Karen Davy's 48 hours of singing set a world mark and raised up to $12,000 for Kidney Kids. Photo / Kenny Rodger
After 48 hours of almost non-stop singing, Karen Davy has walked away with a Guinness world record and much-needed funds for Kidney Kids.
The singer, Dolly Parton impersonator and grandmother started entertaining travellers at Auckland Airport's international departure lounge at lunchtime on Monday.
She broke the world record at 2.30
yesterday afternoon, but continued to sing until a painful throat forced her to stop around 5pm.
"I'm really, really tired. My body is screaming," she said.
Ms Davy prepared for her attempt by humming and making "tonnes of soup".
Everything ran smoothly until Tuesday night, when she nearly lost her voice. "I just calmed down, took it easy and warmed up."
Ms Davy prepared a four-hour set of 60 songs accompanied by musical backing tracks.
She was allowed only a five-minute break after every hour and a pause of no more than 30 seconds between songs. (The rest periods are not included in world-record bids.)
This is not Ms Davy's first attempt at endurance singing. Late last year, she sang for 46 hours and 39 minutes, breaking the world record. However, all the official forms were lost in the mail on the way to Guinness and the attempt was disallowed.
Her team won't be taking any chances this time and have made multiple copies of all the forms.
Kidney Kids' chief executive, Paul Norfolk, said that "in today's economic climate it's really been a godsend for Kidney Kids".
The charity received $7000 from Ms Davy's first attempt, and this time Mr Norfolk estimates it has raised between $7000 and $12,000.
The response from travellers and shopkeepers was positive, he says.
"They've never had entertainment like that at an airport before."
* Weird Guinness world records
17.35 sec: The fastest time to run 100m barefoot on ice.
1 min 45.37 sec: The fastest time to eat a 12-inch pizza.
10: The most live rattlesnakes held in the mouth for 10 seconds.
21.87 sec: The fastest time to complete the game of Operation.
16: The most spoons balanced on the face.
