Boy, 13, praised after performance of song about George Floyd leaves GMB viewers with 'goosebumps'

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  • July 8, 2020
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A 13-year-old boy stunned Good Morning Britain viewers with his “powerful” rendition of a song written by his mother about George Floyd.

Johnetta Bryant was inspired to write the song ‘I Just Wanna Live’ after she heard of Mr Floyd’s death.

The 46-year-old man died after a white police officer kneeled on his neck, despite him saying he could not breathe, in the US state of Minnesota.

Keedron Bryant’s performance of the song was praised by many celebrities and he has since signed a deal with Warner Records.

The talented 13-year-old delivered an “inspirational” performance of ‘I Just Wanna Live’ on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday.

The cover image of Keedron Bryant’s song released by Warner Records (AP)

Piers Morgan, who is a former judge of America’s Got Talent, said “wow” in response to the performance.

“If you’d walked out on stage and done that, you’d have been winning that show I can tell you,” said Mr Morgan.

One social media user commented: “What a lad! Great voice and inspirational song.”

A Twitter user added: “What a lovely powerful voice and the song writing is fantastic… The words say it all.”

Another said the performance gave them “goosebumps”.

One Twitter user praised Keedron’s soul voice. She said: “Shivers to the soul…Keedron you have a beautiful old soul voice.”

The song contains the lyrics: “I’m a young black man, doing all that I can to stand.

“Oh, but when I look around, and I see what’s being done to my kind.

“Every day I’m being hunted as prey. My people don’t want no trouble.”

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After releasing the song on Juneteenth, the anniversary of the emancipation of black slaves, Keedron has worked with the renowned rapper and music producer Dr Dre.

Another video of Keedron’s singing has been viewed more than three million times on Instagram and has attracted more than one million likes.

Former president Barack Obama, basketball star LeBron James and Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o have all praised the youngster.

Warner Records said it plans to donate the profits from I Just Wanna Live to the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP).