This Is the Story of 4 Tough Guys Who Surprised 'AGT' Judges and the Crowd with Their Voices

The judges and the audience of “America’s Got Talent” learned not to judge a book by its cover after being surprised by the sweet voices of four tough looking guys.

Linking Bridge, a group formed in 2015 by four childhood friends who love music, became the biggest sensation of “America’s Got Talent” season 11, back in 2016. Ekoe Alexandra, Montre Davis, China Lacy, and Big Rome Kimbrough put up the ‘tough guy’ act the minute they walked on stage.

Dressed in all black, wearing hoodies, dark glasses and showing off their tattoos, they seemed almost uninterested as Simon Cowell asked them to introduce themselves and answer some questions.

However, when Cowell prompted them with “why are you on America’s Got Talent?” Ekoe replied: “I don’t know, man. This dude right here,” gesturing with annoyance at Montre, “He’s just a big dreamer. And because of his huuuuge dreams, we got together, man.”

THE AUDITION

When the time for the group to start their performance came, both the audience and the judges were really expectant, but they probably were waiting for the guys to break into a rap battle instead of start harmonizing to sing an acapella version of “The Wizard of Oz”s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

With Kimbrough on the lead, the singers showed off their vocal skills, leaving the panel speechless as Nick Cannon, who was the host of the show back then, told the camera “those guys can sing!”

Linkin Bridge had the entire audience on their feet by the end of their song, and the tough guys couldn’t contain their emotions, hugging each other and holding back tears.

“Okay, so, I wasn’t expecting that at all … I’m actually quite a bit speechless, it was that good,” said Mel B, leading the judges’ opinions round, which was filled with equally positive feedback from Heidi Bloom, Simon Cowell, and Howie Mandell.

It was Mandell who took the chance to ask Ekoe, “why are you so emotional?” but the man struggled to get the words out, finally settling with “When you work so hard for something, it’s just that voice inside that tells you to never give up, you know what I’m saying?”

The group got four yeses, and passed through the next round. Eventually, they made their way to the finale of the show, but sadly, didn’t get enough votes to enter the Top 5.

LIFE AFTER THE SHOW

All from Louisville, the four friends kept on singing after the show. They have toured around the country and served as Grand Marshals of the 2017 Kentucky Derby Festival Pegasus Parade.

The group is currently working on an album, but they revealed in November the replacement of one of their original members, Ekoe Alexandra, for 27-year-old vocalist Elliot Nicholas.

Ekoe, they said, decided to leave the group to pursue other interests.

“Elliott is a humble and down-to-earth guy who outshined everyone who auditioned for the spot," Davis told the Courier-Journal. "He is also an extremely hard worker. He learned nearly all of our songs in two weeks."

The group is grateful for all the love they have received after their participation in the reality singing contest, and while they are still working on contracts, an album is expected to be on the market soon.