'It’s been a dream': Cape Breton’s Turnbull twins turn heads during 'Canada’s Got Talent' audition
Cape Breton musician Evan Turnbull auditioned during the season premiere of “Canada’s Got Talent” Tuesday night and his performance had a surprising twist.
Evan drove 25 hours to Ontario for the audition and performed the song “My Maria” by American country music duo Brooks & Dunn.
The 19-year-old and his twin brother Aaron have been performing in the Glace Bay, N.S., area as a duo for the past few years while also working at Tim Hortons.
Judges Howie Mandel, Lilly Singh, Trish Stratus and Kardinal Offishall seemed a bit skeptical of Evan’s audition at first.
“You’ve only been doing this two years,” said Mandel. “What do you want out of this?”
“I’d like to make this my career,” Evan answered.
“All right, good luck,” Mandel replied before Evan started singing and playing guitar.
Then, his twin Aaron began singing from a spot in the audience before joining him on stage.
The brothers blew the audience away, with many shocked faces and clapping hands.
“That’s exactly what ‘Canada’s Got Talent’ is all about. Not only fantastic talent, fantastic surprises,” Mandel said.
“We thought we were getting coffee -- we got a double-double!”
“I think ‘The Turnbull Brothers’ is going to be a name that people are going to be talking about,” added judge Trish Stratus. “Well done.”
All four judges voted “yes” to send the twins to the next round of the competition.
“We were in shock more than anything, to be honest, we didn’t realize we’d get that good of a response from them,” Aaron told CTV Atlantic’s Katie Kelly.
The Turnbull brothers say keeping Aaron’s secret was tough.
“It was really hard,” he said.
“I keep on catching myself saying ‘we’ and ‘us’ instead of ‘I,’” Evan added.
The pair didn’t apply to “Canada’s Got Talent” as a duo.
“We just both put in a different video on their website, not even sure if we’d get in or not and we auditioned separately and they wanted us together,” Aaron said.
The brothers’ friends, family and fans gathered at the Main Event Beverage Bar in Glace Bay Tuesday night to watch their audition.
“Oh, the place was boomin’,” Evan said.
“And the amount of support that we’ve got just in the past 24 hours, the amount of text messages we’ve been receiving of support from everybody – it’s been a dream,” added Aaron.
This season of “Canada’s Got Talent” features 82 acts from across the country, but Evan and Aaron are the only Nova Scotians.
“We were shocked when we found that out,” said Evan.
Two New Brunswickers -- dancer David NT Annan and musician Anica -- will also be featured this season.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
New deep-water channel allows first ship to pass Key bridge wreckage in Baltimore
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.