80 year old man with Alzheimer’s wins record deal after car singing video went viral

An 80-year-old man with Alzheimer’s, who shot to fame when his son posted videos of him singing in the car, has landed a prestigious record deal. Ted McDermott has been signed up by Decca Records after his “carpool karaoke” videos went viral, with over 40 million views. His son Simon discovered that singing in the car, while he drove his father around Blackburn, helped the pensioner cope with his Alzheimer’s disease. He posted the videos online to increase awareness for the Alzheimer’s Society, and raised £114,000 in the process.

An 80-year-old man with Alzheimer’s, who shot to fame when his son posted videos of him singing in the car, has landed a prestigious record deal. Ted McDermott has been signed up by Decca Records after his “carpool karaoke” videos went viral, with over 40 million views. His son Simon discovered that singing in the car, while he drove his father around Blackburn, helped the pensioner cope with his Alzheimer’s disease. He posted the videos online to increase awareness for the Alzheimer’s Society, and raised £114,000 in the process.

McDermott, who has difficulty recognising his own son after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in 2013, is able to remember the words to several songs. He has sung all his life, as a Butlin’s Redcoat and in clubs around the country, and since the videos emerged has been dubbed the “songaminute man”.

The Telegraph – 16^th September 2016