A BASILDON boy has captured the hearts of the nation with his performance on Britain’s Got Talent where he showcased his incredible vocals.

Calum Courtney, 10, wowed the audience and judges with his rendition of The Jackson Five’s cover of Smokey Robinson’s ‘Who’s Loving You’ and sailed through to the next round.

BGT judge, David Walliams kicked off by saying: “What a big song for such a little guy. You did absolutely brilliantly today, you should be very very proud of yourself.”

Simon Cowell added: “Calum, you’ve got soul. You’ve got a very authentic voice, you’ve got a great tone to your voice. You totally controlled the song as well. This was special, it was really really good and I like you a lot.”

Calum is already a viral sensation from a video of him spontaneously singing the ‘Who’s Loving You’ track in a busy local Asda late last year, which now has two million views on YouTube.

The young singer has high functioning autism, however, his mum Tupney Courtney, 34, said it does not affect his confidence to sing.

She told The Echo: “Calum’s love for singing is one of the positives that comes from his autism. He doesn’t understand the gravity from a lot of things - he doesn’t understand how huge it is. Calum’s autism affects him academically and with friends and social situations, and understanding things in context in which people are saying things to him.

“He gets so much from singing and loves how it makes him feel.

The huge positive response he gets from people when he sings gives him something he doesn’t really get from school and friends because he does struggle in those areas.

“One of the things I was scared about is the public. I was really worried as his mum because you know, you’re putting your child out there for all to see. I thought what if people don’t like him.

“I’ve been so overwhelmed about how nice people have been about him, it’s so nice to read that he is inspiring people and having an effect on everybody.

“He has no idea of the gravity of it all, I tell him everybody’s comments and he thinks he realises how amazing it is but he really doesn’t.”

The schoolboy has previously sung on the same stage as Emile Sandé and JP Cooper at the NSPCC Winter Charity Ball in aid of the National Autistic Society.

He received a standing ovation before he burst into tears, watched by his proud parents and family members.