Sitting at the back of Lizotte’s in Lambton, the 18-year-old heard musician Rick Price invite him on stage to sing the classic Heaven Knows, which Connor had performed just weeks before for his Higher School Certificate Music 1 exam.

Price later told Connor he “had the voice of an angel”.

“It was totally unexpected – just 15 minutes earlier I had finished my dessert of vanilla ice cream, Baileys and an espresso shot, everything you shouldn’t have before you sing,” Connor said.

“I was so excited and he seemed to like it – he said wow at least three times.”

Connor was two years old when his parents, who had noticed their son “making music on anything”, bought him a toy piano.

He started piano lessons at six, singing lessons soon after and ukulele around 13.

Connor’s musicality and ability to play by ear and memory had emerged after he received a diagnosis at just five months old of leber congenital amaurosis, a retinal degenerative disease. 

Mrs Wink was told her visually impaired son would never attend a mainstream school, but pushed for him to attend Hillsborough Public.

Fast forward 13 years and Connor has co-written and recorded his own EP Golden Coin, sang in front of thousands at Star Struck performing arts extravaganza and will be among more than 70,000 students to receive their HSC results on Thursday.

“Sometimes I don’t even think about being blind, but sometimes it’s very, very apparent,” he said.

“Music wise, being blind has not affected anything really.

“If I had sight it would make getting into producing a lot easier and I may have been quicker to learn, but it hasn’t affected my passion for music per se.”

Connor auditioned for and was accepted into Hunter School of the Performing Arts in year six.

“The teachers were very understanding and willing to adapt to my needs,” he said.

“They wanted me and the support staff to tell them how to help, like that I needed dictation or for them to tell me when I needed to write notes down.

“The vision teachers helped me learn new routes around the school, assisted with technology and getting work, helped modify assignments and made sure I was okay.”

He used a range of technology and moved at the start of year 11 to the Brailliant, a keyboard-style structure that connects via bluetooth to a laptop.

By placing his fingers on the keys he could read electronic documents and in turn, write his own.

During his final HSC exams Connor was given hard copy test papers in braille for Music 1 and Italian and answered using the Brailliant.

He also studied theatre and screen performance and music industry through TAFE.

“I’m pretty confident and feeling mostly chilled,” he said about his results.

“I hope I’ve improved since my half yearly exams, that’s the main thing.

“I’m relieved it’s done -  I did enjoy school but I’m not sad about the fact I’m leaving.

“I’m ready for something new. I’m going to start a Certificate IV in Music Industry in February. I’ve always been interested in the technical side of music making so it was the natural choice.”

However Connor’s main love remains performing.

He regularly attends open mic nights and is an old hand at busking.

Connor raised $85,000 to make four trips to Asia for stem cell treatment from 2010 to 2013, which each time involved six injections to improve his light perception and peripheral vision and dramatically reduced his nystagmus.

After receiving a Variety future kids scholarship for music tuition in 2014 Connor has raised more than $40,000 for the charity busking outside Woolworths stores across the region.

But he is also looking at new goals.

As a five time featured artist in the Star Struck, he hopes to record a tribute album marking the event’s 25^th anniversary and release it before the 26^th show next June.

“I want to try and get it done before I audition for The Voice 2019.”