Veteran, 97, sings 'you are my sunshine' to cheer people up in self-isolation

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Imogen Braddick1 April 2020

A 97-year-old war veteran has shared a heartwarming rendition of 'You Are My Sunshine' to cheer people up who are in self-isolation during the coronavirus pandemic.

George Lee, from Leicestershire, hoped to spread a little happiness with his performance of the famous Johnny Cash song.

Mr Lee decided to start playing music at the age of 83 and he has been learning the ukulele for 14 years now with local musician Dan Britton from the band Govannen.

The video, posted on the Facebook page of music management company DG Music, has now been view more than 12,000 times.

George Lee took up playing music when he was 83
@DG_Music

DG Music had reached out to its artists to see if they could send videos of performances to cheer people up during the coronavirus lockdown, which led Mr Britton to get in touch with a video from his 97-year-old pupil Mr Lee.

Introducing himself at the start of the video, filmed by his daughters, Mr Lee says: "I'm George. I'm 97. Oh dear! A Burma war veteran. Lived through a very sad time.

"Now we're going through another bad time, which is the coronavirus.

"But at least there's no bullets flying around.

"I've got a little song that you might like to hear, which most of you know anyway."

Mr Lee then starts playing the song on his ukulele and singing along, before signing off the video with "bye for now!"

He adds: "Be happy. Stay safe."

David Graham, director at DG Music, told the Evening Standard that Mr Lee was "chuffed to bits" to hear the video had gone viral.

"He just wanted to share his song and he's chuffed to bits and over the moon that it's having the effect he wanted - to cheer everyone up," he said.

He added: "We hope that the video makes you happy because that's the whole point - to spread some love.

"We would like to pass on our huge thanks to George's daughters who recorded and provided the video and to Dan Britton for making this all possible. We love you all."

Elsewhere, a team of intensive care nurses shared a dance video to spread "positive vibes" during the coronavirus crisis.

In the clip, which was posted on TikTok, the team of seven nurses from the Isle of Wight NHS Trust can be seen dancing energetically in their scrubs to The Weeknd's Blinding Lights.

Beyond the UK, a hospital in the Netherlands shared a heartwarming video of doctors and nurses singing "you'll never walk alone" to their intensive care unit colleagues battling the coronavirus outbreak.

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