Kodi Lee was crowned the winner of Season 14 of America’s Got Talent on Wednesday night – becoming only the seventh singer to win AGT and the first since Grace VanderWaal won Season 11 in 2016.
The 22-year-old is also the first AGT winner with a disability. He was born with optic nerve hypoplasia and was diagnosed with autism at age 4.
AGT repeatedly boasts that the winner receives $1 million and “a headline show in Las Vegas.” The prize is, in fact, a $1 million financial annuity paid over 40 years ($25,000 a year) or the present cash value (roughly $200,000) and the closing spot in an AGT show running Nov. 7 to 10 at Paris Las Vegas.
On the two-hour finale – which featured performances by Cher, Macklemore, Ozuna and Kygo – Lee did a duet with Leona Lewis.
Only time will tell if Lee can turn the victory into a lucrative career. VanderWaal’s 2017 debut album Just the Beginning debuted at No. 22 on the Billboard 200 but quickly dropped off the chart.
Most singers who have won AGT – including Bianca Ryan, Kevin Skinner and Landau Eugene Murphy – have failed to cash in on their AGT success. (Season 3 winner Neal E. Boyd died in 2018.)
In fact, only a handful of AGT winners have gone on to successful entertainment careers. Season 2 winner, ventriloquist Terry Fater, and magician Matt Franco, who won Season 9, signed lucrative deals for their own shows in Vegas.
Last season’s winner was Canadian magician Shin Lim.