Before TikTok, which democratized lip-syncing (lip-sync), there was Keenan Cahill, a specialist in lip-sync. The 27-year-old YouTuber, who suffered from Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome, a disease that causes organ enlargement in particular, died in a Chicago hospital on Thursday, reports CNN.
With nothing but a computer and pure passion, Keenan Cahill has racked up millions of views on his YouTube channel singing along to popular hits. He even convinced celebrities including Katy Perry, 50 Cent and DJ Pauly D to join him.
The Chicago native had Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome, a condition for which he received frequent treatment and underwent multiple surgeries. According to his social media accounts, he was due to undergo open-heart surgery earlier this month.
“Complications arose that he couldn’t,” his family noted on their GoFundMe account, a crowdfunding platform. A fundraiser has been launched to help pay for Cahill’s medical and funeral expenses.
Cahill became one of the first viral stars of the 2010s with his lip-sync videos, filmed in his bedroom from his office when he was still a teenager. The concept was simple: an ever-expressive Cahill simply spoke the lyrics to the hits of the moment, like DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love of Usher and Only Girl (In the World) of Rihanna with aplomb and watched the views roll in.
With information from CNN