An Atlanta singer who coded twice during a failed kidney transplant and later lost his home to a fire took the stage Tuesday night on the live quarterfinal round of NBC’s America’s Got Talent Season 21. Ashford Sanders, a 39-year-old vocalist who first found gospel fame more than a decade ago, earned a standing ovation from the audience and judges after his initial audition impressed the panel enough to send him straight through with four yes votes.
Sanders is originally from Canton, Mississippi, and first reached a national audience in 2012 as a top finalist on Season 5 of BET’s gospel singing competition Sunday Best, according to Gospel Flava. He appeared on the show across multiple seasons between 2012 and 2020, ultimately reaching the top five, though his gospel career stalled after that finish. His initial AGT audition aired on NBC on July 14, featuring a rendition of Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” from the Barbie film, according to reporting from AJC.com.
Sanders was first diagnosed with kidney failure at age 22. A 2024 organ transplant failed after the donated kidney developed a fungal infection, causing him to code twice before surgeons removed the organ two weeks later, the outlet reports. He continues to receive regular dialysis while awaiting another donor match, and now faces another kidney transplant waiting period.
A House Fire Added to the Setbacks
Beyond his medical ordeal, Sanders’ house was damaged by a fire in December 2025, and he lived in a hotel for months afterward, per the same account. He has said he plans to use any AGT prize money toward repairing his fire-damaged house. Sanders had also closed a chicken-and-cheese fried-food restaurant in Atlanta in 2017, and the article notes he opened a soul food restaurant called Ashford’s Kitchen in 2024, named in honor of his late aunt, though maintenance issues forced its physical closure. He has since transitioned to operating a food truck while working as a bank teller, and previously worked at Pasadena, California restaurants.
Sanders is competing for a $1 million prize, with America’s Got Talent set to crown a winner after the semifinals. The show’s finale is scheduled to air on September 23. Quarterfinal results determined by public voting will air on September 15 and 16, with semifinalists announced after that vote, and the live episodes streaming on Peacock.
A Fellow Atlanta Act Shares the Stage
Sanders isn’t the only Atlanta act competing in the live rounds. CommUNITY ATL Choir, a group of about 25 singers representing the city, also appeared on the AGT Season 21 debut episode and received four yes votes from the judges. The choir will compete alongside Sanders in the live episode, joined by former choir members and other artists.
The choir was founded in November 2023 by Deanna Dixon, a former Los Angeles backup singer for Beyoncé and Kanye West’s Sunday Service choir who previously worked as an Uber driver in Atlanta, according to 11Alive. Dixon built a social media following as “The Rideshare Queen” by singing to passengers before forming the community choir, which originated as a weekly gathering for local vocalists in public Atlanta spaces.
The group gained widespread visibility after a video of their spontaneous performance of Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day” at an Atlanta Beltline public piano went viral, and the choir now sings the official morning theme song for CBS News Atlanta, as reported by CBS News Atlanta. Ahead of the live broadcast, the group launched a fundraising drive dubbed “Atl2Agt” to cover travel, lodging, attire and meal expenses for more than 30 choir members and support staff traveling from Georgia to the tapings in Pasadena.
A Nationwide Wait for Kidneys
Sanders’ ongoing search for a donor reflects a broader shortage facing kidney patients across the country. More than 90,000 people in the United States are currently listed on the national transplant waitlist for a kidney, with candidates facing an average wait of three to five years for a deceased donor organ, according to the National Kidney Foundation. Kidney disease accounts for the vast majority of all organ transplant waitlist registrations nationwide.
Adult kidney transplant operations in Georgia are concentrated primarily at Atlanta-area medical centers, including Emory University Hospital and Piedmont Hospital, alongside Wellstar MCG Health in Augusta, making Atlanta the regional hub for complex organ transplants and waitlist management. In 2023, the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network mandated nationwide wait-time adjustments for Black kidney transplant candidates to correct historical delays caused by race-based kidney function estimation formulas, according to research published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Re-evaluating those eGFR algorithms restored accrued wait-time credit to thousands of affected Black candidates across the country.
For Sanders, the stakes of Tuesday’s live performance extend well beyond the competition itself, tying his medical recovery and his hopes of rebuilding his fire-damaged home to the outcome of a nationwide public vote. Viewers will help decide his fate, along with that of CommUNITY ATL Choir, when quarterfinal results are revealed later this month.
