Our Story
Donald Gould was once a homeless man surviving on the streets of Sarasota, Florida. He would be found on any given day playing a street piano trying to make enough money to survive. In 2015, a passerby filmed Donald playing a piano version of STYX's "Come Sail Away" and placed it on YouTube. Overnight Donald became a viral sensation with over a million hits with 24 hours. To date, the YouTube video has already generated over 45 million (45,000,000) views to date.
Within days Donald was swept away by local media and Inside Edition, who gave him a complete makeover and put him on national television. A "GoFundMe" campaign was then started for Donald raising over $40,000 and within days he entered into rehabilitation . His life would never be the same.
Within a few months of entering the rehab, Donald was invited to play the Star Spangled Banner for the season opener of the NFL San Francisco 49er's football game, tin front of a crowd of over 75,000 fans at Levi Stadium. Since then, Donald has appeared on NHK's Japanese television show "Toko Doga" for their season finale and joined Ted Williams, the Golden Voice, on his radio show. Donald has been very active giving back to the community that lifted him up by playing for his local Senior Friendship Center and benefits for local organizations such as Turning Points and Meals on Wheels. He also enjoy's joining the local artist who painted the piano he was discovered on, Viktorjia Bulava, on many of her art opening's.
Donald is a former Marine who has played clarinet all over the world with the United States Marine Corps Band. He studied music theory at Spring Arbor University in Michigan and is only a couple semesters short of his college degree. However, after struggling with addiction, losing his wife to cancer and losing custody of his son, Donald's life took a down hill spiral that left him struggling on the streets, homeless and hopeless. But God had bigger plans for Donald, he was given a unique chance of a life time to change his life direction and share his music with the world. He has since made contact with his son, has his own home and is working on his recovery.
Indie label Triple Pop has now given Donald a record contract and his single "Come Sail Away" was released May 27, 2016.
His debut studio album, Walk on Water, was released in 2017 via iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify and Google Play. In 2018, Walk on Water reached #1 on the Amazon New Age music chart and ranked in Top 50 on Apple Music.
Donald wants to thank everyone who has prayed, supported and followed his journey over this past year. And he hopes you will continue to join him as he makes this album sharing his message and music with the world.