When 12-year-old Christopher Wimberly, Jr. of the “Little Rascals” drumline team saw a thumbs up from Simon Cowell during their performance, he knew good things were coming.
America’s Got Talent host Terry Crews smashed the Golden Buzzer during the AGT audition, rocketing golden confetti across the stage while the Little Rascals drumline team erupted into cheers. Wimberly said he fell to his knees in tears, thanking God that his dreams had come true.
“My friends, they just started hugging me and all that,” Wimberly said. “I dreamed about that.”
Getting to the audition stage was no small task for the Little Rascals, a younger group associated with the Atlanta Drum Academy. Culminating in everyday practice for several hours, long trips into downtown Atlanta and countless hours of show preparation, Wimberly said the routine was “drilled into his head.”
“We had to do push-ups to stay in shape and all that, we had to run, we had to stay at night,” Wimberly said. “We had to eat lunch and dinner at the camp … because we stayed there six hours.”
Training for the AGT appearance started off as a once-a-week practice, which then morphed into three times weekly and then every day as the performance drew near.
The drumline has a full crew of nearly 70 kids, which separate into two smaller groups, one of them being the Little Rascals. AGT could only host 20 members of the Little Rascals, even though there are more, according to Wimberly’s mother, Felicia Wimberly.
AGT first dew interest in the ADA’s Little Rascals when they saw 8-year-old Chioma playing snare drum. They reached out to Chioma and wanted him and the ADA to be on the show together, which is what led the buzzer-winning lineup to Pasadena, California for an audition.
The episode of America’s Got Talent featuring the Little Rascals was aired on television on June 13. Prior to that, the group and their families were under contract to not speak about their audition victory.
The Golden Buzzer is a feature on AGT that allows certain contestants to skip the audition competition portion of the show and head straight to the final live show, which will take place later this year.
Every season of AGT has the opportunity for six total Golden Buzzers: one from each of the four judges, one from the host and one that is considered a “Group Golden Buzzer,” pressed when all the judges and host feel a performance was particularly incredible.
The Little Rascals got through to the live shows off the Golden Buzzer press of host Terry Crews.
“When I look at C.J. [Christopher Wimberly, Jr.], I do see myself — when I say I see myself it’s that, C.J. is musically talented, and not just drums, but piano, also with motivational speaking to young kids, preaching,” C.J.’s father Christopher Wimberly, Sr. said. “But when I see him, I see him going further than I did. So when I just heard him talk about the push-ups and stuff they had to do, I did that in a marching band, and I played percussion, drums, but we never made it to a main stage such like that. And I just feel like looking at him, I just see myself, but going a whole lot further than I did.”
Both of Wimberly, Jr.’s parents expressed admiration for their son and his monumental accomplishment.
“I’m just the conduit to get him where he needs to be,” C.J.’s mother Felicia Wimberly said. “I’m just there to encourage him in his gifts and talents, I want him to perfect it, be the best at it. Whatever he dreams about, I want to be there and to make sure it happens.”
