I want to sing at Simon Cowell's wedding

Since her Susan Boyle moment on last year’s America’s Got Talent, 11-year-old Jackie Evancho (who eventually came second) has become one of Simon Cowell’s hottest new voices. But, as she tells Kate Bussmann, her boss won’t be calling all the shots.

When Jackie Evancho took to the stage of America’s Got Talent last summer, US television got its very own Susan Boyle moment. Seeming entirely without nerves, she gave a spine-tingling performance of ‘O Mio Babbino Caro’ (the Puccini aria made famous by the film A Room With a View) that appeared so effortless, viewers wondered whether she was miming, and the internet instantly erupted with conspiracy theories – could that really be the voice of a ten-year-old?

If any doubt remains, it’s blown away when I arrive to meet the Evancho family (pronounced ev-an-ko) at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Sarasota, Florida. Jackie, now 11, is here to perform a concert that will be recorded for national broadcast in the US, but right now, she, her two brothers (Jake, 12, and Zack, eight) and little sister (Rachel, seven) have a few hours to splash around in the swimming pool. Every so often, she sings a few notes to herself and everyone turns to marvel at the self-described ‘little girl with the huge voice’.

‘Even for me, there’s still a disconnect when I listen to the CD and look at her,’ says her father Mike when he and her mother Lisa join me under the shade of the palm trees. ‘We take the lip-synching thing as a compliment. It’s easy to disprove, so you chuckle, and say, “She’s not, but thank you.”’

It was Lisa who first noticed Jackie’s talent, when she heard her, aged eight, sing one of the numbers from The Phantom of the Opera after they’d watched the film. Two years of talent shows followed before a YouTube video won her an audition on America’s Got Talent. She was runner-up in the show, missing out on the $1 million prize, but in record sales she has already proved herself to be a major contender. Simon Cowell, judge and producer on the show, signed her to his record company Syco, and over a million copies of her debut EP, O Holy Night, have been sold – 30,000 of those in the first 15 minutes.

The record went into the US charts at number two, behind Susan Boyle, and made Jackie the top-selling debut artist in 2010. Her first album, Dream With Me, a collection of show tunes and arias which includes duets with Susan Boyle and Barbra Streisand, will be released in the UK tomorrow, and Jackie has just performed on the final of Britain’s Got Talent.

What’s even more impressive, perhaps, is how unaffected Jackie seems by her sudden fame. ‘I was very nervous – it just doesn’t show on stage,’ she insists when asked about her first audition for America’s Got Talent. The best part about performing, she says, ‘is hearing the audience clap. It makes me think, “I guess I’m pretty good.”’ She says she wasn’t sorry to lose the winning spot to Michael Grimm. ‘He has a really good voice. I think he deserved it,’ she says.

Off stage, her parents are striving to maintain as much normality as possible. Although Mike’s video security business has now shut up shop, everything else is as it was. They live in the same house, with a menagerie of pets from cats and dogs to frogs and ducks. Jackie attends the same school in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, keeping up with classes through online lessons when she is travelling. Her work schedule is kept to a minimum – if she travels for two days for a performance, her parents try to plan a solid week at home either side of it.

They also try not to let Jackie see negative reviews, and most of the positive ones, and all talk of how much money she’s making is kept away from her ears (‘She lost a tooth yesterday and was thrilled to get $12 [£7],’ says Mike). The family, who have a strong Catholic faith, have a policy of donating all gifts sent by toy companies and the public to charity. And at school, the teachers have helped ensure that Jackie’s not the centre of attention.

‘When I’m at home, I want to be a normal person,’ she says. ‘I don’t want to hear, “Can I have your autograph?”’. ‘I’d also like to perform for the Pope and the Queen – but at home I want to be a normal person’. ‘She loves the stage but doesn’t want that recognition at school,’ confirms Lisa, who also prefers to stay out of the spotlight, but has agreed to this rare interview. ‘Jackie’s not vain. She downplays what she does because she doesn’t want to stand out – sometimes children can get jealous.’

‘I think watching Hannah Montana has a lot to do with [her attitude],’ adds Mike, referring to the children’s TV show about a girl who leads a double life as a pop star. ‘A couple of weeks ago we came back from Arizona, where she was performing, and the next day there she was with her school bag, walking down the street as if nothing had happened.’

When Jackie travels, it’s usually Lisa who goes with her. She gets her to do vocal exercises and helps her understand the grown-up emotions she’s singing about. ‘Everyone talks about how the music seems to flow out of her, but some songs have subjects that need to be explained. “O Mio Babbino Caro” is one of them – it’s about a young girl who is begging her father to let her marry,’ says Lisa.

By now, over a dozen people have congregated for lunch. Cowell’s record label has sent five staffers to this sleepy town, and the boss of parent company Sony Records is there too. Then there’s 16-time Grammy-winning record producer David Foster, who is credited with discovering Celine Dion and Michael Bublé, and who produced Dream With Me. Yvie Burnett, the Scottish mezzo-soprano turned vocal coach who works with most of Cowell’s acts, has flown in (Jackie had some initial lessons in vocal technique from a local teacher when she started out, but now her only tuition comes from Yvie). Then there are hair and make-up artists and a stylist – although Jackie’s parents are careful to keep her looking ‘age-appropriate’. As Lisa puts it, ‘It’s lip balm, not lipstick.’

Of all the comparisons that will be drawn, Britain’s child phenomenon Charlotte Church is the most obvious, but everyone is keen to downplay that parallel. ‘Jackie’s not a child singer, she’s a singer who happens to be a child,’ says Lisa, pointing out that performers as prestigious as US opera star Renée Fleming have been in touch to discuss them possibly performing together in the future.

‘Jackie wants to be the classical-crossover Lady Gaga,’ says Lisa, referring to her daughter’s favourite pop singer – and meaning she wants that level of success rather than to emulate her wacky style. (Her favourite singer in the classical world is Sarah Brightman, with whom she duetted on the America’s Got Talent finale, eyes wide with admiration.)

Having sung for Oprah, Jackie’s ambitions now stretch to the heavens. ‘I would like to sing for the Pope. And the Queen,’ she says, and begins to giggle, before adding, ‘and at Simon Cowell’s wedding.’ Although her diva-sized entourage erupts with laughter, no one has any doubt that, where this young girl is concerned, the world could very well be her oyster.