Piano man hopes viral video will launch career

SWEET SOUNDS: Paihia's piano man Craig Michael Gregory tickles the ivories on the town's public piano while young fan Allie Hancox, 6, watches intently. PHOTO/PETER DE GRAAF

The man whose piano-playing prowess became an internet sensation is a holidaying English sparkie who can't read music.

Now Craig Michael Gregory is hoping the viral video, filmed at Paihia's public piano, will help him realise his dream of becoming a full-time musician.

Click on the image below to see a clip of Mr Gregory playing part of his favourite piece of music, Corazon de Nino by the Argentine pianist Raul di Blasio:

A short clip of the tattooed Mr Gregory playing Adele's Turning Tables was viewed thousands of times and shared around New Zealand, Australia and the UK within hours of being posted on the Advocate's Facebook page last week. As of this week it had reached more than 58,000 people, been watched more than 21,000 times, liked 1144 times and shared 240 times.

The 32-year-old from Essex said he started playing at the age of 9 when his parents bought him a Casio keyboard. He is self-taught and can't read music so relies on practice and a good memory instead.

"Give me a song and I'll play it back in about five minutes," he said.

Mr Gregory, who arrived in New Zealand just before Christmas, hopes the viral video will bring him closer to his dreams of being a fulltime musician and recording his own genre-fusing album.

His main focus now is a musical project he's working on with a Kiwi friend who goes by the name Mayze.

In the meantime he's waiting for his electrician's qualifications to be recognised and is hoping to stay. He spent the past two years working in Darwin but decided Australia was "not my kind of place".

While still in the UK Mr Gregory won a national talent quest organised by a chain of UK pubs and reached the final 150 in Britain's Got Talent, which involved playing for 4000 people and the famously acerbic Simon Cowell.

"He said he hates keyboards in general but I kind of made it look cool."

Mr Gregory hadn't been in Paihia long before he discovered the piano, installed by community group Focus Paihia as part of its makeover of the town's waterfront.

"I can't contain myself when I see a piano. I get a kick out of seeing the happiness on people's faces," he said.

Click on the image below to see Craig "Piano Man" Gregory play Adele's Turning Tables for a young fan, 6-year-old Allie Hancox:

He had received a huge amount of feedback since the video went viral. One of the most touching messages was from a mother who told him it had inspired her daughter to start piano lessons.

Other comments from female fans focussed on Mr Gregory's looks rather than just his musical ability. One particularly enamoured woman wrote: "My uterus just exploded".

- Mr Gregory also has his own YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/craigfliss.

- See the original Facebook post here: