I'm Emmanuel Kelly, and this is my story.

I was found on a battlefield in Iraq,

by soldiers taken to an orphanage

without any birth certificates, passports or identity.

And for the next seven years

I was raised by mother Theresa nuns,

where I experienced and saw gunshots,

executions, experienced bombings going off

hearing noises every day that I didn't understand.

That's also where I met my now brother Ahmed

who is an amazing individual.

I always say the only thing thicker than blood is love.

Ahmed is not my biological brother

but I love him more than words can ever, ever explain.

Whilst I was in that orphanage for the next seven years,

we knew it was up to us to take care of these kids.

We would have one meal a day at 4:00 PM every day

and we would have to feed these kids change their diapers

do all the things that a 30 year old

would do at the age of five.

Eventually this exceptional woman Moira Kelly,

who's a humanitarian who has

changed 1000 of kids' lives over the years

had heard about my brother and I

while she was in Albania of all places

looking after kids at a Mother Theresa orphanage as well.

She gets on a plane and heads out to Iraq,

eventually arrives at this orphanage

after spending an eight hour trip from Jordan to Iraq,

in a taxi with someone that doesn't speak English

for three days straight

I sat on a window ledge waiting and waiting and waiting.

Thank God for my brother

even though I had moments where I felt alone

because of him, he reminded me every now and then

whether it was through singing to me that I wasn't alone.

And finally, on the third day she arrived

and I remember thinking three things.

Number one, can she help us, will she help us?

Number two, is she and angel, she wearing the white dress

with a blue veil over her head

and I thought to myself, this could be the moment where

my life could literally change

and number three, how the heck did this white woman

get in this country?

Cause she was whiter than white chocolate.

And as a Brown guy in Iraq,

never seen a white person in my life at the age of five,

she comes into the orphanage

my brother and I always start singing

at like at the top of our lungs, a welcome song

(sings in foreign language)

But she took us out for the day

I got to see the river of Babylon, got to experience Iraq,

and we got to step out of the walls of that orphanage

for the first time she brought us back to the end of it

that day she sat us down.

My brother asked her a really serious question.

He was seven at the time, auntie Moira

we called her auntie Moira he says, can you help us?

And auntie Moira turns around and says,

I'll do my best and I'll do my best.

And he goes well its okay moira if you can't help

both Emmanuel and I, take Emmanuel

and maybe come back for me another time.

It took me a while, I think I was about eight years old

It was after I came out to Australia

where I got told that story, and that's when I realized

the only thing thicker than blood is love.

It took mom two years auntie Moira, two years

to bring us out to Australia.

Finally we arrived, I remember looking over the window ledge

and I thought, wow, how beautiful is that?

we arrived into the airport, oh stop right

and I said, auntie Moira, I'm very, very hungry

she goes, no worries boys, we have spaghetti bolognese

and we're like, what is spaghetti Bolognese

she says, ah, you love it, right?

And she puts it in front of us

and we said, auntie Moira we need help,

she goes, no, you don't said no, we need help.

See, we'd never used a knife and fork for the first term,

We'd never used a spoon for the first time

using the knife and fork was, completely new to us,

but we learned it.

Spaghetti bolognese is the hardest meal to eat.

There's no doubt about it is,

I mean it goes over you, it's messy, but after a while

and through as my life grew and I got bigger and older

I realized that life is messy right?

We have these moments and life is messy

that's the reality.

But I learned to embrace myself so much so

that I'm sharing with you right now,

doctors were able to make me a hand

and it was pretty exceptional.

I went to school, I had my first crush.

I know I had my first girlfriend, my first kiss.

I lived a life that I would never have lived in Iraq.

At the age of nine is when I learned

that I could sing and I could sing and make money.

I watched a TV show called American idol

and I watched this woman perform

it was Kelly Clarkson and she won the show.

I was inspired and I said, wow, she can do it I can as well.

That same year I did my first public performance

in front of a bunch of financial planners and accountants

Financial Planners are fun, accountants boring,

and everyone in the audience clapped loud.

Cut two years later at age 11, I performed again,

this is the first time I realized

I wanna pursue music for the rest like this is what I wanna

do for the rest of my life.

I wanna be a singer for the rest of my life.

I wanna be an artist and entertainer,

I wanna disrupt the music industry

this was the first time I realized

I wanted to be the first differently abled pop success.

I sung Imagine, now remember that at 11 years old

was when I first sung imagine I got three standing ovations

cut to age at 14 I sung for the Prime Minister of Australia.

I went in on and met him, I shook his hand, and he says

you're gonna become big, two years later

I got my citizenship at age 16, my brother was 18

I got my citizenship and it was the best of my life.

I had two incredible days of my life at this point,

the day I arrived in Australia

and the day I got my citizenship

cause for the first time ever

the woman that has been taking care of both my brother and I

for the last eight years of our lives,

we could call her mum we finally felt like we belonged.

At 17 years of age, I auditioned for X factors.

I remember learning home by Michael buble

and the reason I resonated with that song so much

is because I think wherever you are in the world,

home is where love is, I mean, that's the message, right?

And I'm terrified, I'm nervous, I'm waiting,

and finally they call my name this guy Andrew furs.

And he says to me now, Emmanuel, are you ready to sing

Imagine by John Lennon, I said, no, I'm singing home.

He says, no, dude we couldn't get the rights

for you to sing home by Michael Buble,

I said, wait, no, no one knowing no one did

and he goes, Oh, sorry buddy,

lucky I sung it when I was 11 years old

but dude, I can't remember anything

and he goes, well, he is the lyrics, you got five minutes.

And then finally I get to the, to the stage and I'm nervous.

Everything just slows down, I'm still massively insecure

about the way I look about my hands.

I'm getting ready to hide them

under my sleeve, pulling it down and down and down.

And I walk on stage with my lamp and I'm nervous about that

and I'm trying not to limp and I arrive at the on stage

and I remember Ronan Keating, who's a Irish guy sung

He was big in the UK and Europe with a band

called boyzone right, and I was a huge fan

I remember him asking me, Hey mate,

I said, Hey, how you doing?

And he says, what's your name, and the rest was history.

I told the story that you all just heard.

I was found in a box on a battlefield

taken to an orphanage where I was raised there

for the next seven years, experiencing noises

gunshots, seeing things that I didn't understand.

And the whole audience just took back

millions of views start rolling in into YouTube

things go crazy, interview after interview,

after interview, after interview.

And I'm starting to think I'm God's gift

to earth, but at the same time

I'm starting to become massively overwhelmed.

I started touring, started seeing the world.

I sold out the MGM grand arena in Las Vegas,

I mean, things like that, It was nuts.

But as things go up, there's always a down point.

I started to get arrogant and cocky and I realized

that it wasn't because I necessarily thought

I was the best or anything like that.

It was because I was so insecure about myself

that I overcompensated with arrogance

and cockiness, record labels, agents,

managers started to discriminate.

They told me I couldn't make it, I wasn't gonna make it.

They told me that because I had a disability

that I looked bad for their brand.

And I'm talking about every

all the labels and forcing me to be a speaker instead

of doing what I love, what I know the world also loves.

It is my passion, my dream is to disrupt,

my dream is to be the first differently abled pop success.

I started to go into a depressive state, anxiety

depression, If I heard loud noises, it would remind me

of the bombs in Iraq and I would be terrified

I would have nightmares in the way to stop

that was to get on drugs, drink too much,

have sex with any random stranger,

It was a really bad time in my life.

But one day a friend of mine, he says,

stay with me on my couch, and that same day I looked

at the mirror and I asked myself Emmanuel

what happened to the boy who could survive anything,

punched the mirror as hard as I could.

A lot of my hand, the next day, my mate,

he bought a new mirror put it up on the wall

and he said, please don't break this

(laughs)

And I looked at the mirror again and I said, there you are.

From that day onwards, I started to say to myself

embrace yourself, love yourself, embrace who you are.

You can do it.

Remember you're never alone, but then I get a call.

Rob Goldstein, he managed some artists

in New York and says, Emmanuel, a friend of mine has gone

on tour and we pitched you to perform with him.

We sit down and he has me record a video,

and then he turns the phone to me

and he shows me and it says, Chris Martin from Coldplay

the biggest band in the world wanted to perform with me?

This kid from Iraq a month later, I arrive in Australia.

I'm a surprise for my mom,

we didn't tell her that this was happening

and Chris Martin walks in the band, walks in,

I high five them well, high three,

and we start rehearsing just

as I'm about to hop on stage with Coldplay,

I realized something, Oh no, I'm not wearing my jacket.

I'm just wearing a T-shirt and a white T-shirt

I'm like, I gotta wear my jacket,

80,000 people in an audience is gonna look at me.

I've gotta wear my jacket.

Then the backstage manager goes to me,

Emmanuel they're ready, you've gotta get on stage.

Its not gotta get my jacket

my boy looks at me and he says, Emmanuel

you got two choices right now,

you either get on that stage