ENTERTAINMENT
Widower, 96, Writes Moving Song About Wife, Lands in Billboard Hot 100
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Fred Stobaugh, 96, of Peoria, Illinois, knows what it takes to topRihanna, Carrie Underwood, and Taylor Swift on the charts.
The retired truck driver lost his wife of more than 70 years, Lorraine, in April. After her death, he was inspired to write lyrics for a song, “Oh Sweet Lorraine” in her honor, and submitted them to an amateur music contest,the New York Post reports.
“After she passed away, I just sat in the front room in the evening by myself, and it just came right to me,” Stobaugh, who isn’t a musician, said in a video about the song. “I thought, ‘Oh, shoot, I’ll just write a letter and send it all in.’”
Stobaugh submitted the lyrics, which paint a touching picture of the longtime couple’s life together: “I wish we could do all the good times over again … Life only goes around once but never again … but the memories always linger on … No, I don’t wanna move on … That’s why I wrote you this song.”
Moved by Stobaugh’s entry, musician Jacob Colgan, who runs a recording studio called Green Shoe and organized the contest, decided to put the words to music and record it professionally. “It’s wonderful,” Stobaugh said after listening to the almost-finished song for the first time.
Stobaugh’s story went viral this summer and this week, “Oh Sweet Lorraine” finally cracked the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Currently at No. 42, the tune is ranked ahead of songs from Underwood, Swift, and Rihanna, and Stobaugh has become the oldest person to have a song on the Billboard 100, surpassing Tony Bennett, 87.
“She was just the prettiest girl I ever saw. I fell in love with her right there,” Stobaugh said of his inspiration, his late wife. “That was a wonderful 75 years that I often think weren’t real. I was dreaming or something. But it was real, that was all I can say. Really, really miss her.”
Watch the story behind “Oh Sweet Lorraine” and hear the song:
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