A Homeless woman, Emily Zamourka, from Los Angeles went viral in a video captured in a subway station, has performed her first gig.
The 52-year-old singer performed at the unveiling of Historic Little Italy sign in downtown San Pedro before a live audience that praised her with uproarious applause.
The Russian-born singer has performed only one song, the same Puccini aria she performed in the viral video she became famous for.
She thanked the audience after her performance and also raised awareness about the homelessness crisis in California.
‘I’m so glad I could touch your hearts with my voice. thank you so much for all this that’s happening right now, I really thank you, I’m so overwhelmed,’ she said.
‘I’m not a professional singer, but I’m very critical to how I’m going to sound or how I’m going to perform,’ she said to NBC after her performance.
‘It has to be delivered right. It’s not easy, so that’s why today I will apologize in front of everybody because they probably thought I’m going to bring a [bigger] repertoire or something. It’s going to be the same song that they know me from the subway [for],’ she added.
Zamourka has been homeless in Los Angeles for two years but she got famous when an LAPD officer posted a video of her singing at a Metro Purple Line station in Koreatown on social media showing her singing the breathtaking aria on September 26, 2019.
She said she ended up in the streets after her violin, which she used to play in the streets for money, was broken by a vandal.
She went to LA City Councilman Joe Buscaino’s office hosted the Little Italy event and offered her to sing a song for him. His office says they’re also working on finding her housing.
After went viral, Grammy-nominated producer Joel Diamond announced he wanted to sign a record deal with her.
‘I actually wrote a deal memo to her and I don’t even know her,’ Diamond, the CEO, and president of Silver Blue Records said to Good Morning America. ‘I’ve never done that my entire life. It’s crazy.’
He said he wants to produce a combination of classical plus electronic dance music with her and wants to title it Paradise.
‘I have two tracks ready to go that I’ve been holding. I didn’t have an artist so that’s like the perfect fit,’ he said.
A GoFundMe page to help Zamourka get her a new violin has surpassed $72,000 towards the goal of $75,000.
Zamourka moved from Russia to the US 24 years ago and became homeless when she suffered serious health problems and had to pay for her medical bills.
Zamourka’s revealed that her life derailed two years ago when a vandal destroyed her violin, and with it, her means of making money.
‘It was my treasure, and it was my income, too. It was everything,’ Zamourka said to ABC, adding the violin was worth $10,000.
‘That’s when I became homeless. When I could not actually pay any of my bills and could not pay any more of my rent,’ Zamourka said to NBC.
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