Robert Finley, the 65-year-old singer who became the breakout star of Dan Auerbach’s 2018 Easy Eye Sound Revue tour, brought down the house with a performance of his track “Get It While You Can” on America’s Got Talent Tuesday.
Finley’s performance was preceded by a brief biography that touched on his childhood in Louisiana, where he worked on a farm at a young age and turned to music because it was the one thing that interested him that wouldn’t get him in trouble. Finley served in the military during the Vietnam War, but after returning home he had to give up his music dreams in order to provide for his new family. A couple years ago, Finley found out he was going blind, but as he said on America’s Got Talent, “The bad thing, sometimes it brings out the best in you. I began to play music again, it made me reach inside to find myself. It’s like I’m 65 and just coming alive.”
Finley then took the stage where he introduced himself to the judges and launched into “Get It While You Can,” which appeared on his Auerbach-produced 2017 album, Goin’ Platinum! Halfway through the song, Finley had the entire crowd on their feet as he belted, “You gotta take it when you can get it/Get it while you can/Wrap it up in bacon, sizzle it in your pan!”
Finley easily progressed to the next round with four “Yes” votes and even earned high praise from Simon Cowell, who said, “The finest wines are the ones that stay in storage for a few years and then they become beautiful. And that’s how I feel about your voice — you don’t have that voice when you’re 17, 20 years old.”