Saturday Read: After Internet Fame, Homeless Piano Man's Life Looking Up

Check out the video that changed Donald Gould’s life below.

It’s been less than a month since Donald Gould’s impromptu piano performance on a Sarasota street captured the attention of the nation, catapulting him into near-instant Internet fame. Now, the homeless 51-year-old former Marine whose scruffy appearance belied the talent that was right at his fingertips the whole time has options to explore.

Gould’s rise to fame came when he decided to sit down at a public piano placed on a Sarasota street to play Styx’s “Come Sail Away.” That performance caused passersby to take pause, looking past his bedraggled appearance. One such passerby happened to shoot a video of the performance and posted it on YouTube June 30. The video has since gone viral with more than 11 million views and has led to dramatic changes for the man who was known as “Boone” on Sarasota’s streets.

First, Gould was offered housing and employment assistance. Then Inside Edition stepped forward to give him a complete makeover. Before long, his estranged son reached out on a video chat and encouraged his father to clean up and get some help for years of dependency issues that plagued his life.

Gould, WWSB reported, heeded his son’s advice. He checked into a detox program last week and has since been released. He entered rehab on Tuesday, the station reports, and will spend about two months at an undisclosed location as he continues to dry out.

See Also:

• Bittersweet Reunion for Homeless Piano Man, Son
• Sarasota Piano Man Gets Whole New Look
• Watch: Homeless Piano Man Nails ‘Come Sail Away’
• Homeless Man’s $10K Returned by Deputy, Good Samaritan
• Homeless Man Reunited With Long-Lost Bank Account

Once that program is completed, Gould will have plenty of options available to him. A gofundme account established in his name has since raised more than $43,000. Spring Arbor University in Michigan, the school Gould attended and left in his younger years, has also offered him a full scholarship to finish his degree, MLive reported.

“We want to do the right thing for him,” Malachi Crane, SAU’s vice president for enrollment and marketing, was quoted by the station as saying. “He’s obviously had a lot of trials in his life. Sometimes you just need a break.”

Gould’s descent from family man and college student into life on Sarasota’s streets began in 1998 when his wife died.That loss led him into a downward spiral that would eventually take him from Michigan to Florida.

“I just lost it,” he told WWSB.

After the loss, Gould suffered from substance abuse and eventually lost custody of his then 3-year-old son.

The man, who says he can play almost any instrument, from the “piccolo down to the tuba,” attended Spring Arbor earlier in life. He was three semesters shy of a music education degree when he left school.

It remains unclear whether Gould will leave Sarasota for his home state of Michigan after he completes his rehabilitation program. What is clear, however, is that Gould’s story has tugged on heartstrings across the country and the world.

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