East Grinstead busker reaches two million YouTube hits singing everything from Beatles to James Blunt
By Jo Gilbert
East Grinstead Courier
Posted: March 19, 2014
YOU may well have hummed along to one of his songs.
Perhaps you have dropped a few coins into his guitar case.
But you probably haven't realised just how popular busker Danny McEvoy is.
A regular sight in East Grinstead town centre, he may well be Britain's best-loved busker as his YouTube videos have just passed two million views.
POPULAR: Busker Danny McEvoy, pictured here in Redhill
A huge fan of The Beatles, he has covered every song ever written by the Fab Four.
This includes B-sides and album tracks, and has led to the 51-year-old steadily building up an online fanbase.
Danny busks in towns up and down the country, with East Grinstead, Crawley, Redhill and Brighton among his most common stops.
He has also sung Strawberry Fields in Strawberry Fields, Eleanor Rigby at the real Eleanor Rigby's grave, Rain in the rain outside Beatles hotspot The Cavern Club in Liverpool, and even Imagine next to the Statue of Liberty.
Danny, who is originally from Liverpool and a lifelong Beatles fan, said: "I first filmed myself singing I Want To Hold Your Hand.
"Then I did another Beatles track, and another, and then I thought I might as well do them all.
"It's taken me on some interesting adventures. I had to smuggle my guitar on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty because you're not allowed to take instruments there for some reason.
"In the end I only got onto the island because the guard was a Beatles fan."
Having recorded all the Beatles' songs, Danny decided to move on to a new mission so he recorded every single from the 1960s which reached number one, two or three in the UK charts.
With this accomplished he moved on to the 1970s, completing the same feat.
And last year he switched to hits that reached number one, two and three in the 1980s – again performing every single one and posting all the videos on YouTube for his fans.
Danny, who has been playing in East Grinstead since 2000, gave up a career as an art teacher two years ago so he could sing full time.
"When you're a teacher you can't be a real person," said Danny, who now lives in Newhaven.
"The school was never happy about my singing and my YouTube popularity so I decided to give it up.
"I'd had enough.
"It's ironic that an institution which is supposed to foster creativity ends up stifling it.
"I'm much happier now I can pursue my art and music how I like."
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