Motivation: A viral video turns NYC Subway singer’s life around after 40 years in the business

Need something uplifting that can motivate you to not give up on your dreams and aspirations? Then the short but touching story of Mike Yung is just what you need.

On Sunday, 12th August 2019, a very emotional Mike Yung took to Twitter to announce that he will be going on a 22-city tour in the fall. The tour is called the Never Give Up Tour and explains his life in just 3 words.

For the past 40 years, Mike Young, an African-American man from Brownsville has survived as a subway singer. This was as a result of his lifelong dream of becoming a singer and global sensation. In an interview with Vibe, Mike said that “Everyone has a purpose in life, and mine is being a singer.”

Mike Yung, who is almost 60 years old, spent all his life working towards the dream. There have been many times that Mike has come close to realising his goals but it seemed the doors always found a way of closing on him at the spur of the moment.

At the age of 15, Mike Yung met American music writer Teddy Vann in Harlequin studios in 1975. His meeting led to him signing a record deal with the then successful T-Electric Records becoming record label mates with Luther Vandross and Etta James. After the successful release of Etta James’s album, Mike was set to start working on his when the recording label went bankrupt and out of business.  In an interview with OurBKSocial, Mike described the moment as a crushing experience.

Shortly after that, Mike moved to New York with the hopes of pursuing his dreams. To support himself, he got a job at the NYC Parks Department until a friend introduced him to Subway singing. Realizing that he was making more money as a subway singer, Mike quit his job at the NYC Park Department and continued singing.

His second breakthrough was in 2017 after auditioning for Season 12 of America’s Got Talent. Once again, Mike won the hearts of the judges including controversial Simon Cowell but only made it to the semifinals of the show.

The exposure on the show, however, brought him more fame and he began to get private musical gigs which paid him more money. After a while, Mike started Kickstarter to help raise money for his debut album. The successful campaigned raised 90,000 dollars.

There has been no going down for Mike Yung after that as he continues to grant interviews on various media platforms to share his success story.

The Never Give Up Tour is just the beginning of great things for Mike Yung and an even greater inspiration for anyone out there who feels they are too old to make it.

Mike Yung is definitely an inspiration and an epitome of the saying “It is never too late for anything in life.”