Eli Mattson (born November 4, 1981) is an American pianist and singer. He was the runner-up on the third season of America's Got Talent. The difference was less than 1/2 of 1 percent. He beat out over 200,000 contestants. Many people were amazed by him when he performed at the audition by singing Marc Cohn's 1991 hit, "Walking in Memphis". Mattson was born in Duluth, Minnesota. He has been playing piano since he was five years old and has been performing, including his own compositions, since the age of fourteen. When Eli was only 19, he was awarded a prestigious grant from the Peninsula Arts Association in Wisconsin to help record and produce his full length album, Monsters. After touring with a country band, he lived and performed in Chicago for three years before his national debut on America's Got Talent. He has been playing at local venues for the past several years and has garnered a large and varied fan-base. He calls Door County, Wisconsin home. Eli's influences include Elton John, Billy Joel, Bruce Hornsby, Jimmy Newquist, Dave Matthews Band, and many other amazing musicians. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.