<P> The show held televised auditions in Los Angeles, New York, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Seattle, and Houston . Non-televised producers' auditions were also held in Denver and Chicago . Previews of auditions were shown during NBC's The Voice premiere on April 26 . Online auditions via YouTube were also held for the second time in the show's run, beginning on May 4 . Finalists for this audition circuit competed live on August 9 . </P> <P> On Wednesday, September 14, Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr., a Frank Sinatra - style singer, was named the winner . Dance group Silhouettes was runner - up . </P> <P> Season seven premiered on May 14, 2012 . The first round of auditions, which are judged by producers, were held in New York, Washington, D.C., Tampa, Charlotte, Austin, Anaheim, St. Louis, and San Francisco from October 2011 to February 2012 . The show began its live theater performances at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark on February 27 . </P> <P> Piers Morgan did not return as a judge for season seven, due to his work hosting CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, and he was replaced by Howard Stern . Since Stern hosts his SiriusXM radio show in New York City, the live rounds of the show were moved to nearby Newark, New Jersey . In December 2011, Simon Cowell, the show's executive producer, announced that the show would be receiving a "top - to - bottom makeover", confirming that there would be new graphics, lighting, theme music, show intro, logo, and a larger live audience at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark . On July 2, at the first live performance show of the season, their new location and stage were unveiled in a two - and - a-half - hour live special . A new set was also unveiled with a revised judges' desk and a refreshed design of the "X". </P>

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