Move over Adele and make room Queen B — little Grace VanderWaal of Suffern is joining the artists' ranks at Columbia Records with her first record deal.
The 12-year-old songstress and ukulele player signed a contract to record her first album with Simon Cowell's Syco Music label for Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music.
VanderWaal, named winner of "America's Got Talent" on Sept. 14, impressed the judges and a national audience with her original songs and unique singing style. Dubbed "the next Taylor Swift" by AGT judge Cowell, it's no surprise VanderWaal is recording her first album with him. Cowell has had success with the formula before: Multi-platinum selling band One Direction signed with Syco after appearing on The X Factor in 2010.
In an exclusive Journal News/lohud interview this week, Grace discussed coming home and her first singing engagement at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas on Oct. 27-29. Although when asked if there were any music deals in the works, she responded: "No, we're just kinda taking it one step at a time."
