Singing Michigan Cashier Performs With R&B Star Maxwell

Lucas Holliday, a financially struggling retail clerk at an East Lansing, Michigan, discount store, is a little dizzy after a whirlwind week that began Nov. 14 with a guest appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and ended Friday with a duet with dreamy r&b crooner Maxwell on a suburban Detroit stage.

Holliday isn’t exactly a stranger to the microphone. His falsetto regularly makes love to it as lead vocalist with the Lansing area band “Tell Yo Mama.” And he loves singing to his customers, just loves the joy it spreads. But getting a chance to sing with the neo soul superstar? Talk about kismet, and at just the right moment.

That the relatively unknown retail clerk and local musician and the rising superstar connected at all is a story of the relationship building power of social media.

It all started on Nov. 9, when Sharee Nakia Robinson, a customer at the Dollar General store captured Holliday's serenade of Maxwell’s “Ascension” on video as he checked and bagged her purchases then posted it on Facebook. “THIS MAN CAN SING!” Robinson wrote, using all capital letters to convey her enthusiasm for his voice. "If y'all need someone to sing at a wedding or some other kind of function, check him out!”

Holliday did nail it, and the post has garnered tens of thousands of shares and comments by people who agree.

ABC News invited the singing cashier to appear on GMA on Nov. 14 for what seemed to be a nice human interest story about a guy who regularly sings to customers and brightens their day. Who wouldn’t love a story that not only treats viewers to his silky voice but also makes them wish they were in Lansing at the Dollar Store listening, right at that moment?

“It’s a crazy thing,” Holliday said on GMA. “Somebody will come in, and I might be humming or something like this, but all of a sudden I might burst out if they ask me … Sometimes I get a little blue, a little gloomy when I’m working, busy or whatever, stressed. You know how it is. And in any case, I’ll just bust out, and it’s crazy to watch people spread that kind of positivity. It’s beautiful.”

Holliday did get a chance to sing a rendition of Luther Vandross’ “A House is Not a Home” on the program, no small win for someone who wants to earn a living as a musician, but he was unprepared for the huge surprise that awaited him.

“Hey Lucas, this is Max. I saw your video,” the singer said in a recorded message played for Holliday on the program. “You're singing ‘Ascension.’ You sound unbelievable. I wanted to personally invite you onstage at my Detroit show, this Friday, and hopefully you'll join us. And congratulations. You have a sick, amazing voice.”

Maxwell had seen the video and sent the word out on Twitter that he was looking for Holliday.

When the invitation came on national TV, Holliday was flabbergasted.

“Please, yes, please, please, please, Lord, please,” the 26-year-old finally mustered.

For Holliday, the chance to perform alongside Maxwell at The Palace at Auburn Hills Friday was a greater thrill than he expected.

“I came right out, just busted right out from backstage and down the ramp with Maxwell,” Holliday told the Lansing State Journal. “I had to kind of get my wits about me. It looked like 15,000 people were looking at me. I've never had that kind of a crowd looking at me, but as soon as I got on stage and started singing I felt free.”

In a sense, he is. A lot of the problems that had been knotting him up may soon disappear.

Holliday juggles a couple of jobs, one at the Dollar General store and the other as an office temp, and often works 16 hours a day just to pay his bills.

“It’s been too amazing,” Holliday said. “Honestly, it's still not sunk in yet. People are calling, anything from possible management offers to booking opportunities. I'm trying to figure it all out, put the pieces together.”

There were so many little moments that made Friday one of the best nights of Holliday’s life. He says he might frame a paper copy of the set list, which said “ ‘Ascension,’ featuring Lucas Holliday.” Maxwell took out his cellphone and took a picture of Holliday performing it like a pro. The crowd chanted his name.

“I’m forever grateful,” Holliday told ABC. “Whatever happens from here on out, I’m forever grateful for this moment.”

Holliday may one day make it big, but until then, you’ll still find him crooning behind the cash register at the Dollar General store in East Lansing.

“I still gotta pay the bills,” he told the Lansing newspaper. “All I want to do is work in music, to play music. The whole thing has been beautiful.”

Photo of Maxwell by Scruffz via Wikimedia Commons