Simon Cowell Champions ‘X Factor' Contestant, Calls Performance ‘The Best First Audition I Have Ever Heard'

Move over Susan Boyle! A new singing star has emerged in the U.K., and his audition has gone viral on the Internet.

Danyl Johnson, a 27-year-old teacher from Reading, England, appeared on Britain's "The X Factor" reality competition over the weekend and after performing the Joe Cocker Version of The Beatles classic, "With A Little Help From My Friends," he left Simon Cowell on his feet, and as of Tuesday, netted over 1.2 million hits on YouTube.

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"I've been doing this for how many – eight, nine years?" Simon asked his fellow panelists on the U.K. talent competition after giving Danyl a standing ovation. "Danyl, that was single handedly, the best first audition I have ever heard."

Danyl, who hit the stage in a long sleeve top and shorts, brought the house down, and left audience members chanting his name. And Internet viewers are checking out his clip in droves.

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The official "X Factor" YouTube channel had 1.2 million hits, but other unofficial clips of the performance were also netting thousands of clicks.

Unlike SuBo, Danyl seems anything but shy, and the self-proclaimed "free spirit" admitted to crushing on the judges – Kylie Minogue's sister Danii Minogue and British Girls Aloud star Cheryl Cole, as well as Simon and Irish band manager Louis Walsh.

"I don't like to conform or be put into one box or another and if I'm honest all the judges are good-looking," he said, according to Britain's Mirror. "If I like someone's personality it doesn't really matter what they look like or what sex they are."

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But while the bisexual singer may be interested in boys and girls, he admitted he is a "rubbish boyfriend" and – as of right now – off the market.

"I haven't been in a relationship for about a year, but if I was I'm sure the pressure of all this would be enough to end it because it's so daunting," he said, the British paper reported. "I have to concentrate 100 per cent on this, especially after what Simon said."

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