Sheldon Riley

Sheldon Hernandez better known by the stage name Sheldon Riley (born c. 1999) is an Australian singer and fashion model of Filipino origin. He took part in The X Factor Australia in 2016, in two series of The Voice Australia in 2018 and 2019 and in America's Got Talent in 2020. His best result was third on The Voice Australia in the seventh series of the show.
Talent shows
The X Factor Australia
He first took part in eighth season of The X Factor Australia in 2016 as Sheldon Hernandez (his real name) as a solo artist for the "Under 22" category. He auditioned with "Circle of Life" and after being stopped prematurely, "Ordinary People" from John Legend. Judges were Guy Sebastian, Iggy Azalea, Adam Lambert and Mel B. He was sent home at the "Bootcamp" round by Adam Lambert, the mentor of the Under 22s category. However, the Groups category's mentor Iggy Azalea decided to bring Sheldon and three other eliminated solo contestants back by forming a new boy band, called Time and Place. The four-member boy band included Sami Afuni, Matthew McNaught, Leon Kroeber and Sheldon Hernandez. Azalea ended up with 9 various bands under her "groups" category. The band Time and Place was selected as one of Azalea's top 3 for the live shows, performing "You Don't Know Love" from Olly Murs and "Ride" from Twenty One Pilots. It was eventually eliminated at the first live show after receiving the fewest public votes. As quadruple eliminations in that round, the band finished 9th to 12th overall.
The Voice Australia
Two years later, in 2018, he took part in the seventh series of The Voice Australia. He auditioned with "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" turning all four judge chairs (Delta Goodrem, Kelly Rowland, Boy George and Joe Jonas. He was mentored by Boy George. In the "The Knockouts" he performed "Believe" from Cher and in the "Battle rounds" "Diamonds" from Rihanna qualifying in both. In the live shows he sang "Creep" and "Scars to Your Beautiful" and "Born This Way" always qualifying winning public vote. In the semi-final, he sang "Rise" from Katy Perry qualifying for the final where he performed "Young and Beautiful" from Lana del Rey and the Eurythmics hit "" as a duet with his mentor Boy George, finishing third behind the runner-up Bella Paige and the winner Sam Perry.
In eighth series of the show, Riley returned as part of the All Stars that featured a number of artists who had appeared on previous seasons of the show, as well as on The X Factor Australia and Australia's Got Talent. Riley auditioned with "Frozen from Madonna with both Guy Sbastian and Delta Goodrem turning their chairs. The other two judges Boy George and Kelly Rowland had their teams full and were ineligible. Riley became part of the Delta team. In the next round, he sang "Call Out My Name" and "Praying" and was dropped by Delta in favour of team contestant Jordan Anthony. Riley was eliminated after the "Battle round" of the show on 17 June 2019.
America's Got Talent
In 2020, Sheldon Riley auditioned to of the contest America's Got Talent Dressed in an avant-garde black ensemble and concealing his face with a glittery chain mask, he sang Billie Eilish's "idontwannabeyouanymore". Judges Howie Mandel, Sofia Vergara and Simon Cowell all voted yes, sending him to the "Judge Cuts". Heidi Klum was not present that day. He advanced to the Quarterfinals though the verdict was not televised. Sheldon Riley's Quarterfinals performed Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Head" via satellite from Luna Park in Sydney. Sheldon did not receive enough votes to advance to the Semifinals and was eliminated.
Career
After the habitual releases of performances in The Voice, Riley released his own single "Fire" in 2018 based on his exposure in The Voice. After taking part in America's Got Talent, he returned to Sidney releasing his single "More Than I". in collaboration with Australian producer Sam Sakr. He also released an accompanying music video for the song. He has Asperger syndrome.

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