Latest News « Back to News

“Spectacular.” That’s what daytime TV host Rachael Ray had to say Thursday morning after she heard 12-year-old Jackie Evancho sing “Music of the Night” from her new Songs From the Silver Screen CD.

Jackie was a guest on the Rachael Ray Show, which aired locally on WTAE Channel 4. Click here to see Jackie's segment on the show.

After the song, Rachael prompted Jackie to talk about the meaning the song holds for her. The song comes from the film version of The Phantom of The Opera, which Jackie saw when she was 7 years old. “It was all the Phantom of the Opera that started to make me excited for singing,” the Pine-Richland resident said. “I went to see a movie. I came home. I sang the songs around the house because I loved the movie so much. My mom heard me and she thought that I was pretty good and she asked me if I wanted to do a talent competition. I was all up for it. I was super excited. And I ended up being first runner-up to a 20-year-old opera singer.”

That was back before her appearance on America’s Got Talent, where she placed second again … then moved on to a meteoric rise to stardom.

Rachael also asked Jackie about her part in a new Robert Redford movie, The Company You Keep.“It was really exciting especially since it was my first movie, and everyone was so nice and just super awesome and I had so much fun,” Jackie said with a big smile.“It was such an honor to have been able to do it with Robert Redford and I would have loved to do it again.”

“Don’t you just love her?” Rachael asked as she put her arm around Jackie’s waist and gave her a hug. “You could put her in your pocket.”

After Jackie’s performance, she filmed a short video called Backstage Pass: Jackie Evancho. In that segment, Jackie chats as she plays with a dog named Penny, giggling as she holds a squeaky toy that has Penny’s rapt attention.

“Rachael is such a sweet person and I really love Rachael,” Jackie said. “Me and my mom used to watch her cooking show when I was littler. And we used to sit on the couch and watch it. We had so much fun,” she says as she squeaks the toy and Penny pounces on her. “I really do like cooking and I like food and my favorite food is steak or … chicken or turkey or crab. “A lot of stuff,” she says with a laugh as she throws her hands in the air. “I love everything. I don’t have a picky palette.”

To read the full story head to Pine-Richland Patch