Boy with autism randomly serenades shoppers in grocery store and earns over 2 million views
Talent can hide in the strangest of places. One boy is proving that even the smallest of us can have the ability to sing. While not a trained singer, he has parlayed his crooner abilities into a small bit of Internet fame and a possible future in the music business.
Breaking out into song
When 10-year-old Calum Courtney broke out in song in an ASDA, no one knew exactly where it would lead. Calum, who has a mild form of autism, loves to sing, and while his autism does tend to affect him in some of the usual ways, his ability to be heard through song is not one of them.
“Calum has high functioning autism,” his mother, Tupney Courtney, told Independent. “For Calum, this means blurred social boundaries, struggles with school, and difficulties with friendships, but also that enables him to have no fear to get up and belt out a song. We describe his autism to him as a superpower, it may take a little from other areas of life but it’s given him the superpower of music.”
‘Who’s Loving You?’
In the video, Calum can be heard singing “Who’s Loving You?” by Smokey Robinson. The song was famously sung by Michael Jackson, who was a part of the Jackson 5 at the time, on The Ed Sullivan Show.
The video, after being posted online by Calum’s aunt, ended up getting 2.4 million views. Before his video went viral, Calum had no idea how good he actually was.
“He did not realize how good he was until he saw the video, he said: ‘Mum, I’m actually really good,’” Courtney said.
‘Britain’s Got Talent’
After the video went viral, it was spotted by someone with the British TV series, “Britain’s Got Talent.” Calum was invited to the show where he wowed the judges and the crowd. After Calum was done singing, he got a standing ovation from the judges, with Simon Cowell especially smitten with the youngster’s talent.
Placing ninth overall on the show, Calum has shown that someone can succeed even with something such as autism. Calum’s popularity has come through for him in other ways. After his video went viral, he was offered a contract to record a single for charity.
A very talented boy
In addition to his singing abilities, the young singer taught himself to play the drums at just 18 months old, and he is an avid Minecraft player. After his success onstage, Calum related his experiences on the popular video game to his real life.
“He thinks he’s gonna be able to buy a mansion, he has a bit of an obsession with building them on Minecraft,” his mother said.
For more of Calum’s musical talent, check out his debut video below.
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H/T: Independent, Shareably