He’s performed with The Beatles, but now he’s a bonafide solo star.
Dave Williams, an 81-year-old retired medical assistant and former singer who has shared the stage with The Fab Four, shocked a nursing home with an improv performance at a fundraiser.
Williams — who revealed he’s performed with The Beatles on several occasions as a young man — amazed Park View Nursing Home in Liverpool, England, on July 23 with a spur-of-the-moment rendition of “Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers.
The elderly care facility shared a video of Williams singing on TikTok, where it has since gone viral with over 522,000 views.
Williams, who does not reside in the home, asked to get up on stage at the fundraiser, which consisted of a picnic filled with food, fun and games, following vocalist Toni Nesbitt’s performance.
“When I got up my daughter was begging me to sit back down, but I’m glad I didn’t,” he told Southwest News Service of his daughter Debbie, who is the chef at Park View.
His powerful performance not only wow-ed social media but also residents of the nursing home, namely a woman who has dementia.
“After my performance, I saw her singing the song to herself, which was brilliant,” he said.
“Words can’t explain how we all felt after his performance,” Park View wellbeing coordinator Jodie Solaiman said. “Dave has lived an incredible life, to say the least. He has said he would love to perform for us again.”
Solaiman, 25, posted the TikTok which garnered much praise and love for Williams, who only recently became aware of the clip’s popularity. The octogenarian said he was startled when he went into his local betting shop the next day following the nursing home event, and the whole store was clapping for him.
Solaiman was also stunned to find out about his past with The Beatles, though he said singing “was his first love.”
When Williams was just 15 years old, he started working at Sefton General Hospital and founded a band called The Dices, singing with them during his free time.
His band first appeared with The Beatles’ drummer Ringo Starr, then unknown, at the Morgue Skiffle Cellar in Broadgreen, Liverpool in 1958.
At the age of 17, Williams went solo and scored weekend gig vocalizing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at a small club in Brighton, UK. Around that time, he sang with The Beatles at Knotty Ash Village Hall in Liverpool in 1961.
“It was all surreal and something I will never ever forget,” he joyfully recalled. “The gig at Knotty Ash was a bit awkward. I may have been a bit out of key but I got a good clap.”
The crooner didn’t stop there, though; He even sang with Mel C of the Spice Girls at Paul McCartney’s 58th birthday on June 17, 2000.
“At Paul’s birthday, people from around the world came to be there,” he gushed. “I’ve been lucky to have these experiences.”
While a gifted singer, Williams built an almost 50-year career working for the NHS, the United Kingdom’s publicly-funded healthcare system, while also operating theaters around Merseyside, England.
“I owe my life and my happiness to the National Health Service,” Williams added. “I know it’s going through a bad patch but it really is an excellent service with excellent people who give 100 percent.”
