All of us have songs that we fell in love with when we were little children.
It is impossible to get these songs out of our head—and sometimes they suddenly pop into our head. When they do, we typically start reminiscing about the good times. The same goes for this musician playing a tribute to a song he loved—and it was so good, that we had to share it!
These gig singers went viral after doing a cover of Toto’s classic hit song.
It all happened one day at the Pie Pizzeria in South Jordan, Utah.
Mike Masse, along with his pal Jeff Hall, had been singing for the restaurants’ customers for years—and it just so happened that Masse came up with an acoustic arrangement for his favorite song since childhood, namely “Africa” by Toto. He tried to perform it with Hall or his other gig partner Wendy Jernigan but without any luck.
They practiced and practiced, looking for the right arrangement so that it would be worth performing.
Even though they end up having little to no listeners, Masse did not give up.
He kept practicing with his partners and one day decided to record every gig session they had at the pie. On the fateful day of August 7, 2010, Hall and Masse decided to give it a shot. Even though the place was empty they both sang their hearts out, strumming the right chords and backing it all up with a fluid bass rhythm. It was beautiful, and even they were surprised at how well it turned out.
Their luck turned around great on that fateful day.
The process was not instantaneous, as it took them a whole lot of trial and error before they finally performed something they thought was worth sharing.
They thought of uploading the recorded clip on the internet, but even Masse was sort of hesitant about posting their product at first. After careful deliberation with Hall and his peers, he finally decided to post it on YouTube.
Masse read the first comment and got anxious about how the performance was being received—but in the next few days, the video received a flood of positive comments complimenting them for a job well done.
Moreover, their cover got the band Toto’s attention—especially the composer who wrote “Africa.”
Masse was given a special invitation to one of the band’s concerts and was able to meet the band personally himself.
Since then, Masse had been on a roll in his music career.
Now, Masse has his own website where you can read all about him and even be updated on when and where he will be having his live music shows.
Furthermore, he used his YouTube platform to share more of his transformations of classic rock covers—and since we can’t enjoy watching him play in public concerts, he just used the opportunity to start his own online live show, The Mike Masse Show.
It is amazing how his simple acoustic cover of “Africa” got him this far ahead!
Hopefully, we’ll be able to watch him in person in the near future rather than on a screen. As for now, go check him out on YouTube and his website for more information.
Watch the full performance by clicking the link below:
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