The homeless woman whose video of her singing in a metro station with a very beautiful voice went viral has now been offered a recording contract.
The homeless woman, Emily Zamourka who quickly became famous after an LAPD officer shared a clip of her singing Puccini last week might have landed her big break in the music business as Grammy-nominated music producer Joel Diamond is now offering her a recording contract.
According to TMZ, with her fast-rising fame on the internet, Joel Diamond has drawn up an offer letter for the Russian-born subway singer, with the hope of creating a “huge classical/EDM crossover hit record for the subway soprano.” The deal would be for one initial record entitled “Paradise” which would be released on Diamond’s label, Silver Blue Records.
The producer allegedly saw her viral video like everyone else and wants to help her blow up. Joel got David Hasselhoff to go platinum in Germany and has produced 12 albums for legendary singer Engelbert Humperdinck.
On Thursday, a police officer from the Los Angeles Police Department posted a video of Emily Zamourka with her shopping trolley and reusable bags on the force’s Twitter account.
The caption read:
“4 million people call LA home. 4 million stories. 4 million voices…sometimes you just have to stop and listen to one, to hear something beautiful.”
Several GoFundMe campaigns have been launched by individuals and around $70,000 (£57,000) raised to help her find somewhere to live long-term – and replace her violin which she says was stolen three years ago.
The classically trained violinist and pianist, who has no formal singing training, told the Los Angeles Times that she moved to the US when she was 24 from Russia, where she learned to sing by imitating opera performers on TV.
She lived and worked in a nursing home and restaurant in Missouri for more than a decade and then in Washington state where she offered piano lessons but was forced to stop when her health deteriorated in 2005 due to a failing pancreas and liver.
When she was well enough she returned to teaching music again in Los Angeles and busked with her violin on the streets until it was snatched and broken.
“I started to get behind with payments,” she said. “My landlord… one day he said, ‘Emily, I’m sorry, but you have to leave.’”
“It was my income,” Ms Zamourka told KNBC-TV. “It was everything to me.”
Of her newfound fame, she said: “I want to thank that police officer who did that video, and I wanted to thank God that he inspired me to do that.”
She has already been booked by Los Angeles City Council to sing on Saturday night at the opening of Little Italy, an area in San Pedro celebrating Italian heritage.
Watch the video below:
https://twitter.com/LailaIjeoma/status/1179412211737006083