AUSTRALIA HAS BEEN hitting Bieber pitch over a 14-year-old boy with a Justin Bieber-style haircut and the voice of Whitney Houston.

Jack Vidgen from Manly, Sydney dedicated his performance on Australia’s Got Talent last week to his dad who has multiple sclerosis. But the real tearjerker came when he opened his mouth to sing a pitch-perfect version of Houston’s I Have Nothing.

The judging panel, led by Brian McFadden, gave Vidgen a standing ovation – and McFadden went so far as to clamber up on the stage and land a kiss on the young boy’s cheek as he finished singing. McFadden:

I’m retiring, I’m giving up… I could just go home now, I’ve seen enough.

The Australian press has dubbed Vidgen ‘Baby Bieber’ and he is already being mobbed when he appears in public, according to the International Business Times. Vidgen’s local paper, The Manly Daily, says he is “better than Bieber” and reports that he has been taking singing lessons since he sang Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah at school assembly when he was  a young boy.

Here’s ‘Baby Bieber’ in action on Australia’s Got Talent:

His Twitter account gives some idea of how hectic his life has become already, even though he is only (so far) through to the semi-finals of the talent contest.

Too young for you? Try this lounge-y version from the more mature Hungarian Idol 2010 contestant Attila Kokeny. Nice keyboard.