Established at an elderly housing project in 1982, Young@Heart is a chorus of twenty-two senior citizens with an average age of eighty that sings contemporary and classic rock and pop songs, like James Brown, the Pointer Sisters, The Clash and Sonic Youth. This idea has given countless aging individuals an wonderful and exciting chance to sing, travel the world and possibly fulfill life-long dreams of singing onstage.
Young@Heart was the subject of a 2008 British documentary film directed by Stephen Walker, who captured this performance in 2007 of 83-year-old Fred Knittle stepping on stage to perform the lead vocal in their cover of Coldplay’s “Fix You.” Though he had retired from their group a few years before due to health issues, his incredible voice still managed to bring the house down and tears to everyone’s eyes.
Fred died in 2009, but this video is still getting thousands of hits a week. The reason why it’s perfectly wonderful to sing at any age.
