The video of Simon Cowell’s new favorite British singer Danyl Johnson performing the Beatles’ “With a Little Help From My Friends” on the British talent show “The X Factor” has become a Susan Boyle-like YouTube sensation.

The official clip on YouTube had registered about 1.2 million Tuesday.

On Saturday night’s airing, judge Cowell called Johnson’s soulful cover “the best first audition I have ever heard.” Johnson quickly shot to frontrunner status, raising questions about whether he’d become the next incarnation of Scottish chanteuse Susan Boyle, albeit one in cargo shorts who prefers classic rock to “Les Misérables.”

The 27-year-old Johnson is a schoolteacher from Reading, England, who has fallen short in other attempts to make it big as a singer. He has been in two boy bands, Upfrunt and Streetlevel, but neither of them ever caught on. Johnson performed on television with a rock band called Empty Spaces and has auditioned for “X Factor” three times.

Johnson’s estranged father said he had not spoken with his son for a year after a falling-out. Following the “X Factor” performance, though, Johnson’s father sent him a text message and received a response back.

The father said, “I was so proud when I saw Danyl on the television. I did shed a tear as he was singing.”

(via MTV)