It takes someone with a vision and purpose to ask, “Are you gonna go my way?” Lenny Kravitz fit the bill when he wrote that very song in 1992.
Now a young — very young — guitarist has claimed that song for a new generation.
Bay Melnick Virgolino is all of 10 years old, but he made a convincing argument that he is leading the way for guitar’s future when he performed Kravitz’s hit on America’s Got Talent. The pint-sized New Yorker blew away the judges and the crowd with his spot-on rendition in which he not only shredded on a PRS guitar as tall as him but also sang with the conviction of a much older performer.
Speaking with the judges before his performance, Bay revealed that he’s been playing the guitar for five years — half his life — and that he was inspired by a guitarist old enough to be his grandfather.
“I was five years old and I was obsessed with Slash,” Bay said of his main influencer, who was also obsessed with guitar from a young age. “I wanted to learn how to play, so I asked my mom for lessons.”
Mom responded, and Bay clearly jumped at the opportunity, making himself ready for prime time at the tender age of 10.
But Bay was equally impressive with his stage banter. As his parent stood off to his left, he commended them for their support.
“They're my biggest supporters.
“They're kind of like my roadies,” he added, to laughter.
But once he began playing his electric guitar, there was no laughing — just gaping jaws that erupted into cheers when the youngster began singing… and doing so with authority.
Bay not only has some true guitar face — he has enough mojo to get the crowd singing and dancing along with him.
After his performance, he turned his attention to the judges he’d blown away just seconds before. As their comments reveal, they weren’t just impressed by his age — it was his true talent that won their approval.
“I think Lenny Kravitz would be so proud of you,” former Scary Spice Mel B said. “You got so into it and did all those riffs. I really felt it.”
“I think you are one of the coolest kids I’ve ever met,” added actress Sofia Vergara. “You are a little, mini, tiny superstar.”
“I don’t have to say anything. This audience said it,” quipped Howie Mandel. “You are amazing. You are memorable. You’re like a rock star. You really are.”
Then came Simon Cowell’s turn. He added a personal note to what he’d just seen.
“I really can relate to that.,” he said. “My son Eric just learned how to play drums, and I was just thinking, Gosh, it must be the best feeling in the world for you and your mom and dad right now just to be there after that.
“Because you’re so good. You really are. And you’re having the best time you’ve ever had, aren’t you?”
Bay’s success reminds us of another pre-teen prodigy we saw on the program’s sister show, Britain’s Got Talent — namely Olly Pearson, the 11-year-old shredder who blew away that show’s judges and audience last March with a medley of hits by AC/DC, Van Halen and Queen.
As for Bay, in case anyone thinks he’s been sitting at home waiting for his America’s Got Talent moment, think again. The kid has videos all over YouTube, including this impressive take on Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child,” performed with bassist Jack Lopez and drummer Ezra Kessler at a benefit concert to raise money for kids and families affected by the L.A. wildfires, March 14, 2025.
