<P> VanderWaal began her musical career by posting videos of her original songs and covers on YouTube and performing at open mic nights near her hometown . In September 2016, at age 12, she won the eleventh season of the NBC TV competition show America's Got Talent (AGT), singing her original songs . In December 2016, she released her first EP, Perfectly Imperfect, on the Columbia Records label . She has performed at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Madison Square Garden, the opening and closing of the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Austria, various benefit concerts, the Austin City Limits Music Festival and on several television talk shows . She won the 2017 Radio Disney Music Award for Best New Artist and a Teen Choice Award, has twice been named to Billboard magazine's 21 Under 21 list of fast - rising young music stars, and received the 2017 Billboard Women in Music Rising Star Award . </P> <P> In November 2017, VanderWaal released a full - length album, Just the Beginning, and then she conducted her first concert tour . She is set to tour with Imagine Dragons in mid-2018 . </P> <P> VanderWaal was born near Kansas City, Kansas, to Tina and David VanderWaal, who lived in Lenexa at the time . David is of Dutch descent and works as a vice president of marketing at LG Electronics . VanderWaal moved to Suffern, New York, where she resides with her parents and older sister; she also has an older brother . After winning America's Got Talent, VanderWaal was home - schooled and enrolled in online courses for 7th grade but returned to attending a public school for 8th grade . </P> <P> VanderWaal began singing and making up songs at age three . As a preteen, she found songwriting inspiration by watching movies and trying to imagine what a character was feeling, and "what it would be like if I were them, and wrote a song ." She decided to learn the ukulele after watching a family friend play and seeing a Twenty One Pilots video on YouTube . She then bought one, using money she had received for her 11th birthday, and watched more videos to teach herself how to play . She also played the saxophone in her school's marching band . </P>

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