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Homeless man wins the Internet with his moving piano performance

Homeless man's breath-taking piano show stuns passersby

A homeless man from Florida has wowed the Internet with his powerful and moving piano skills.

Donald Gould, a homeless man in Sarasota, was caught playing a beautiful cover of Styx’s “Come Sail Away” on a public piano in the city, where he dazzled a small audience.

The delicate performance was then uploaded to Facebook, and has since been viewed more than 4.5 million times, and has racked up over 150,000 shares.

“I was thinking I could just put my hat on the piano and make a couple dollars and get tips,” Gould told WWSB. “I didn’t expect it to jump out to this.”

Gould, known to the locals as “Boone,” treats passers-by on the streets of Sarasota to a five song set-list that he learned as a child, WWSB reports.

“I might not do the whole song complete as it was on the record originally, but I [know] enough to touch people out here – ‘cause I’ve touched a lot of people, apparently,” he said.

Gould’s musical journey began with a clarinet he used to play as a child, and later, the U.S. Marine Corps. After, he took to Spring Arbor University in hopes of one day being able to teach music.

“I took music theory and ear training and I had to learn how to play every instrument from the piccolo down to the tuba,” he said. “I can write parts like a handbook.”

Just three semesters short of graduation, however, the now 51-year-old ran out of money and had to pick up other jobs as he started a family.

In 1998, it all came to a crashing halt when his wife suddenly passed away.

“They sat me down and told me what had happened – that my wife passed away – and I just lost it, man,” he said.

What followed next was a destructive path that included substance abuse, and eventually led to him losing his then 3-year-old son to Social Services.

But since his rise to Internet fame, things may be looking up for Gould. Someone who saw the show-stopping performance reached out to Surf Shack, a local restaurant, who said that they would be willing to give him a try-out as a potential act for their upstairs piano bar.