Kelowna singer reaches across the country
Scotty Berg wanted to support all Nova Scotians in light of tragedies
Scotty Berg missed performing before 20,000 fans at Rogers Arena by four days.
Although he never expected it, his most recent audience was nearly five times that size courtesy of a Facebook post that went viral.
The Kelowna singer, who just celebrated his 13th birthday, posted a cover version of Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water to a Facebook group in support of Nova Scotia.
As of Wednesday night, he had more than 90,000 views to go along with tons of shares and encouraging comments.
“I put the song up on the Facebook group and 10 minutes later, it had 500 views. I thought that was amazing and within two hours, there were 20,000 views. When we got to 50,000 views, I thought, ‘this is insane,’” said Berg.
The video can be viewed on Facebook at Ultimate Nova Scotia Kitchen Party – COVID19.
He was introduced to the folk-rock classic by a friend, and says he likes the song’s message of hope.
Although he’s never been to the province, Berg has an indirect tie with Nova Scotia because his father was a teacher at Saint Francis Xavier University in Antigonish. For the video, Scotty wore an oversized St. FX sweatshirt.
“It’s pretty overwhelming and very cool to have that kind of response with all the likes and shares and nice comments. My idea was just to show support for everything Nova Scotia has gone through,” he said.
His previous online record was 40,000 views on Instagram for his take on At Last by Etta James.
Berg is well known for singing the national anthem at Kelowna Rockets, West Kelowna Warriors and Kelowna Falcons games. In March, he was invited to sing at Kids Day prior to the start of a Vancouver Canucks game. His dream gig was cancelled when COVID-19 shut down the NHL only four days before he was scheduled to sing.
All of his summer concert dates and singing competitions were also cancelled.
“Everything happens for a reason, and it is how it is,” he said. “I’m still singing songs every day and posting videos.”