Besides her singing, Yoli Mayor, a Cuban American has also written and performed in plays and dabbled in jewelry and clothing design.

With a powerful voice, YOLI MAYOR wants her music to be real, and mean something to others. Singer Yoli Mayor began singing when she was two. But she didn’t croon “My LittleTeapot” or “Old MacDonald.”

The first song she remembers singing is one of Aerosmith’s biggest hits.“It honestly just happened,” she says. “The first things I remember singing are “I Don’t wanna miss a Thing” by Aerosmith and the song from The Little Mermaid, “Part of Your World.”Perhaps she was destined, from the time she was two and singing Aerosmith, to lift up her voice with power and grace. Which she did, during the first episode of season 12 of America’s Got Talent.

However, infamous judge Simon Cowell was not so impressed when she first opened her mouth to sing “I Put a Spell on You” by Annie Lennox. He told her the performance didn’t feel young enough and asked if she could sing something else. After harried host Tyra Banks ran out on stage to assist in removing Yoli’s diamond jewelry and kicking off her shoes, Yoli chose“Make It Rain” by Ed Sheeran. And she blew the roof off the place.

Yoli didn’t magically arrive at this point in her life. Her family, especially her parents, uplifted and encouraged her along the way.“My mom has always been the number-one fan, my parents, together,” she says. “From the beginning, my mom always encouraged me to keep singing, and my dad was the voice of reason but he still always supported me. He’s a harsh critic, but that’s because he wanted me to grow.

Yoli says. “Her music was real and unapologetic, and that’s what is attractive to me as a songwriter.”Yoli wants to reach people with her music.“I want people to hear my music and think, ‘How does she know? How did she know that’ show I felt?