on February 19, 2022, following a courageous public battle with cancer.
AGT golden buzzer’s Nightbirde, on toxic relationships and letting go.
by Jane Kingsu-Cheng
“Cancer isn’t killing you, you’re killing yourself.”
As one of the most-watched talent competition shows on TV, America’s Got Talent has seen its fair share of memorable Acts. Although plenty of great Acts get standing ovations and praise from the panel of Judges, the Golden Buzzer is the ultimate acknowledgment of next-level talent.
According to Judge Simon Cowell, there’s one Golden Buzzer moment that will always stand out from the rest.
Jane “Nightbirde” Marczewski received the honorary Golden Buzzer from Cowell during the first round of Season 16 Auditions. “There was something really special about Jane,
I adored her,” Cowell told AGT Host Terry Crews in the above video from July 5’s Simon’s Favorite Golden Buzzers episode.
“The last time I saw her, she did say what that moment meant to her.
All these years she had been trying to get recognition as a songwriter, as a singer…
I promise you, so many people came up to me and talked about what she did,
giving people hope and perspective.”
During Marczewski’s Audition, she was very open about her ongoing battle with cancer, and Cowell was blown away by both her talent and overwhelming message of hope. “What was so special about Jane, in my opinion, was that she was always optimistic,” said Cowell. “She recently passed away, which makes this tough, but all she kept talking about was her music. You know what? It’s difficult, I haven’t been able to watch [her Audition video] since she passed.”
After her four-year battle with cancer, Marczewski passed away on February 19, 2022. However, her inspirational message lives on in the hearts and minds of everyone she touched with her talent and authenticity. “You know, she typifies, I think, what the Golden Buzzer, like you said, is all about,” Cowell said to Crews. “She knew how sick she was and she couldn’t make the Finals, but I think watching it back, it makes you feel hopeful. Her Golden Buzzer will live on forever. No one else, in my opinion, could be number one.”
After watching Nightbirde’s (real name Jane Marczewski) beautiful performance
on America’s Got Talent and finding out that she went to the auditions alone, many wondered where her family was at that time. After all, how could anyone not be in love with her angelic voice, beautiful face, and expressive eyes.
But Jane did get married—to a fellow musician Jeremy Claudio back in 2015.
They had a lovely intimate wedding in an old building from the 1920s in Newark, Ohio. According to The Knot, the couple was very hands on with the details, filling up the place with lots of greens. The wedding ceremony ended with dinner at the building’s Sparta Restaurant & Coffee Shop. All the guests had the couple’s very first meal when they discovered Sparta—chicken and waffles with homemade hot-pepper jelly and home fries.
LAIDBACK WEDDING Jane and Jeremy got married in an old building from the 1920s.
Within a span of five years, the couple, especially Jane, went through a lot of challenges—mainly bouts of cancer that gave her less than double-digit chances of survival every time. “I have had cancer three times now, and I have barely passed thirty,” she posted on her blog.
The song “It’s Okay” which she composed and sang in America’s Got Talent is about her journey the past year.
She tells Access, “This was the song that I wrote for myself that I needed to hear. In the beginning of 2020, I was diagnosed with cancer, given six months to live. Two weeks later, I went through divorce. My husband said he didn’t want to do it anymore.” In one of her recent posts, she shares a podcast with the caption, “It’s the realest I’ve ever been about the collapse of my marriage and the lies that were keeping me sick.”
Tuning in to part four (Was I lying to myself?) of R.E.S.T. podcast between Jane and Virginia Dixon on Understanding How You Love and Attachment, Virginia helped Dixon in her journey of understanding herself better and what relationships should be like.
“I got into this marriage against the advice of my whole family. So, I met him, and he was everything that I ever dreamed of. It was romantic and it was exciting, and my family and my parents saw some red flags and I did not listen to them, because I did not respect the way that they had had their marriage. So that was like a revolt on my part and a lack of wisdom on my part.”
“I got married and we moved to Nashville.
We’re both artists, and we kind of fell into the rhythm that I was the parent in the relationship. I bought 90 percent of the income, I cooked, I cleaned, I did the grocery,
I took the car to get the oil changed, I fed the dog, I mowed the grass. I did everything because that was the rhythm of my life,” she realized. Burnt out, but because this was what she was accustomed to, she kept telling herself at that time, “Please, please, please. Perform, perform.”
She also added that “because of my husband’s own emotional trauma, he was impossible to please and controlling and extremely critical.” She also realized, in hindsight, that she had “come back to the same pattern of overachieving and never reaching the mark.”
“At that time, I didn’t realize that it was unhealthy, that it was abusive… until I became aware of my attachment style and because of my family history, I didn’t realize that I was unhealthy.” Virginia added, “Cancer isn’t killing you; you’re killing yourself.”
Jane remembered the emotions that have always dominated her life, thoughts such as
“I need to strive, I need to control if I only worked hard enough, I would have all the things
I want and get what I deserved.” Life didn’t go the way she planned, “I was getting angry trying to control.”
RAY OF SUNSHINE One of Nightbirde’s cover photos (Facebook)Eventually, she realized that the outcome is not in her hands, but what matters is, as Virginia said, is to “understand how you got to where you are, and how to get out.” She stressed the importance of communicating what you need to yourself, to God, and then to others. And that’s when Jane started to let go, and when she did, “When I let go or stop trying to control the situation, then the goodness of life and the goodness of God just took over. Things have been looking up for me.” “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy.” -Nightbirde.
She will always be number one.
“America’s Got Talent” sensation Jane “Nightbirde” Marczewski died
on February 19, 2022, ~ following a courageous public battle with cancer.
A source with direct knowledge told TMZ that the singer passed away Sunday while undergoing treatment for the disease, which had metastasized to her lungs, spine and liver.
The tragic news comes after the Ohio native, who was an early favorite to win “AGT,” withdrew from the competition in August amid her battle with the disease.
“Since my audition, my health has taken a turn for the worse and the fight
with cancer is demanding all of my energy and attention,” the singing phenom
revealed in a heartbreaking announcement posted to her Instagram page.
“I am so sad to announce that I won’t be able to continue forward on this season of AGT.”
Marczewski added, “Life doesn’t always give breaks to those that deserve it — but we knew that already.”
The tragic news comes after the Ohio native, who was an early favorite to win
“AGT,” withdrew from the competition in August amid her battle with the disease.
A month before, the singer performed a jaw-dropping “AGT” audition, in which she sang an original song, “It’s OK,” based on her struggles with the disease.
The performance earned her a standing ovation from the crowd and a Golden Buzzer from curmudgeonly judge Simon Cowell. A video of the performance boasts nearly 40 million views on YouTube.
Marczewski was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, which would be the first of her three recurring cancer diagnoses, culminating in 2019, when a doctor informed her that she had just three months to live. However, Nightbirde refused to let the disease define her: “It’s important that everyone knows I’m so much more than the bad things that happen to me,” she said before her performance.
She said after the performance that she had a 2% chance of survival —
“But 2% is not zero percent,” she said. Simon Cowell, Nightbirde and Terry Crews.
Trae Patton/NBC Despite her battles with the disease, the vocal sensation said she
was grateful for her run on “AGT.”
“Sharing my heart with the world on AGT has been an honor and a dream come true,”
the star wrote on IG. “My point of view this summer has been astounding.
What a miracle that the pain I’ve walked through can be reworked into
beauty that makes people all over the world open their eyes wider.”
“AGT” judge Howie Mandel mourned Nightbirde’s passing in a Monday tweet.
“@_nightbirde was such a bright inspirational light in all our lives,” he wrote.
“We must continue to live and learn from her words and lyrics.
As much as I feel horribly about her passing, I feel lucky to have met,
heard and known her.” Host Terry Crews also shared his condolences.
“We are saddened to learn about @nightbirde‘s Passing,” he wrote.
Jane Marczewski Obituary – Mission Viejo, CA (dignitymemorial.com)
Simon Cowell’s Top Golden Buzzer Moments | Part 1 | AGT 2022 – YouTube
Jonas Brothers – Remember This | Live Bass Cover ~ Joshua Lance – YouTube
SIMON COWELL Ranks TOP 3 Golden Buzzer Moments in AGT History! – YouTube
Nightbirde: The True Story Behind America’s Got Talent Golden Buzzer Winner | Glamour Fame
AGT golden buzzer’s Nightbirde, on toxic relationships and letting go – Manila Bulletin (mb.com.ph)
Golden Buzzer: Nightbirde’s Original Song Makes Simon Cowell Emotional – America’s Got Talent 2021 – YouTube
From cancer and divorce to the winner of AGT Golden Buzzer: Nightbirde’s inspiring story is taking over the Internet (sportskeeda.com)
We felt you all would like to see some of the memories that sat in Jane’s phone.
So, we layered that with one of her songs, “Fly”, and teamed up with a longtime friend of Jane’s, @ryancarl, to weave together these moments for an official Nightbirde “Fly” music video.
The full video is now live on the NIGHTBIRDE YouTube.
And we will leave you all with Jane’s words we started with:
“Because hope is the bird that sings even when she can’t see the dawn.” – NIGHTBIRDE