The story behind the homeless piano man that has gone viral

fuad lawal

July 5, 2015 1:28 PM

This homeless man’s beautiful piano playing has been shared thousands of times around the world.

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Donald Gould, a widower, hopes his son might see the video and finally get in touch.

Passers-by have been stopping in awe to hear him play, with one woman so amazed to hear the perfect music as she walked down the Florida street that she uploaded a video to YouTube.

When he was interviewed the next day, Donald asked, "You got how many hits on that?"

He plays the piano almost every day it is there, and said his skills on the piano and were self-taught and he has been homeless for around six or seven years.

People are now trying to crowdfund enough money for Donald to get a home, car and the qualifications he needs to teach music.

The former marine lost custody of his three-year-old son when he became a drug addict following his wife’s sudden death in 1998, a local media house reported.

"They took our child away from us, and my wife took a handful of morphine pills and died. She just went to sleep," he said. "I couldn’t keep it together and eventually social services got tired of it and they terminated my parental rights. Everyday it’s painful. There’s not a day that’s gone by since they took him from me that I haven’t thought about him. He turned 18 last August 24. I wish he would come and find me."

Widower Donald trained as a clarinet player (again, self taught) and thought he would try his hand on the piano and just try to collect a few dollars to support him through the day, never imagining his music might move people to tears across continents.

fuad lawal