83-year-old Margaret Mackie (pictured) has recorded a single of the song ‘My Way’ by Frank Sinatra with her carer, Jamie Lee Morley (pictured), after a video of the pair performing a duet at their care home’s Christmas party went viral on YouTube.
Mr Morley, a musician who works at the Northcare Suites Care Home in Edinburgh, said he had been walking past the lounge when he thought he heard someone singing Elvis Presley’s ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’.
Thinking it was the radio, he then saw it was Ms Mackie. “I was stunned,” he said. “I’ve loved singing and music since I was a little lad, and I could just tell that Margaret did, too. Her voice is amazing.”
After their clip became a success, Mr Morley took Ms Mackie to a recording studio and released the single and a music video on 28 December, which has now had over 200,000 views.
All proceeds from the single are going to Dementia UK and the Alzheimer’s Society – but even better, the song has improved Ms Mackie’s mood.
“It has brought her back to life. The dementia was taking a hold of her and she was getting sad with it, but this has given her a new lease of life,” her daughter, Mairi Hunter, told the BBC.
The pair are now joking about recording a whole album – we’re sure it would be a hit!
Check out the original video here.
