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FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD YOUTUBE SENSATION CHRISTOPHER DUFFLEY PROFILED TODAY ON ABC NEWS' DIGITAL SERIES,
20/20: YOUNG & GIFTED
Blind Recording Artist with Autism Appears on September 14 Edition of Network Digital Series that Features 'Profiles of Prodigies'
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Fifteen-year-old YouTube sensation (seen here opening in concert for Dove Award winning band Sidewalk Prophets while being filmed for ABC Television) is profiled today on ABC News' innovative new digital series, 20/20: Young & Gifted. (Mike and Bethany Rohler photo)
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (September 14, 2016) -
Fifteen-year-old YouTube sensation Christopher Duffley, a recording artist and inspirational speaker who is blind and has autism, is profiled today on ABC News' innovative new digital series, 20/20: Young & Gifted
. Over the course of this premiere season, the original series will feature profiles of seven prodigies, including Duffley, who utilize their talents to better their lives and the lives of those around them.
20/20: Young & Gifted is the first digital spin-off for the network's long-running 20/20 program, and is available on ABCNews.com and across ABC News' digital platforms.
"Young & Gifted is another example of how we've been able to collaborate closely with our on-air shows to extend their brands off linear television," says ABC News Executive Producer David Silver. "An original series like this harnesses the type of storytelling 20/20 has become known for, and has delivered for years." To watch the show, visit tinyurl.com/hc94sy4.
Duffley was first "discovered" by the ABC television network when
The Associated Press broke the story of his August 2015 Fenway Park performance of the National Anthem at a Boston Red Sox MLB game, which then went viral. ABC News named it one of the most exciting viral videos of 2015, and Duffley was featured on the network's December 2015 television special,
The Year: 2015.
His
20/20: Young & Gifted appearance caps a busy summer that has included launching his own podcast,
Mission Possible, where he interviews guests including Heisman trophy winner and
Dancing With The Stars contestant Doug Flutie and internationally renowned speaker Nick Vujicic.
Duffley also opened for Dove Award winning band Sidewalk Prophets, and he has been in the studio recording new songs, including his first original song, "Hear You Sing," which he co-wrote with Christian artist Michael Vincent Shaughnessy.
"Hear You Sing," which is generating a wave of excitement and positive reviews among fans, is slated to appear on Duffley's upcoming EP, Keep On, scheduled for a Fall 2016 release. Other newly recorded songs, "I Believe in You," "Spinning" and the title track, will also appear on the EP, along with brand-new remakes of fan favorites, "Lean on Me" and "Open the Eyes of My Heart."
"God has used Christopher and our family to touch the world in a special and unimaginable way," says Christine Duffley, Christopher Duffley's mother. "Christopher's music has taken on new meaning for us and all who hear the voice of a child whose autism and blindness point us to what really matters in life."
An internet sensation since the age of ten, the YouTube video of Christopher Duffley's performance of "Open the Eyes of My Heart" has garnered
more than 9.2 million collective views on YouTube worldwide. He has performed at sports fields and arenas across the country, as well as during Pope Francis's 2015 visit to
Philadelphia. Duffley has received media coverage from such high profile outlets as USA Today, The Boston Globe, The Huffington Post, The Blaze, Sports Illustrated, Sports Illustrated Kids, The Bleacher Report
and MLB.com, as well as ABC News, Fox News, ESPN, and other major news outlets.
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Fifteen-year-old blind singer Christopher Duffley, who also has autism, performed in concert with the Dove Award winning band Sidewalk Prophets this summer. Picutred (L to R): Sidewalk Prophets lead singer Dave Frey and Duffley. (Mike and Bethany Rohler photo)
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About Christopher Duffley:
Christopher Duffley entered this world with only a 50 percent chance of survival. Born prematurely at 26 weeks, Christopher weighed just 1 lb., 12 oz. and tested positive for cocaine. Miraculously, he survived, but an eye condition, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a disease that affects the eyes of many premature babies, rendered him totally blind by the time he was 6 months old. Due to his birth parents' inability to care for him because of their drug dependency, Christopher was discharged from the hospital into foster care.
But Christopher's struggles were not the end of the story. When his biological aunt and her husband, Christine and Stephen Duffley, learned that Christopher was in foster care, they sought him out. Once they located the child, they brought him home to New Hampshire to be part of their family.
By the time he reached 5 years old, Duffley had been diagnosed with autism. Although he had rarely conversed until he reached the first grade, Duffley's adopted mother, Christine, had noticed his ability to make rhythmic noises and keep beat, and he had begun to pick out songs on the piano by age 3. Because of this natural affinity, music therapy was a logical choice to help Christopher Duffley learn to communicate, which Christine Duffley says he did more often by singing than talking. And, when he sang, it was in perfect pitch.
Duffley's story as a popular entertainer began when a video of the then 10-year-old Duffley singing "Open The Eyes of My Heart" at the Capitol Center for the Performing Arts in New
Hampshire went viral, garnering more than 9.2 million collective views on YouTube worldwide to date. News of his remarkable talent spread like wildfire, culminating in Duffley
singing the national
anthem for the Boston Red Sox baseball team at Fenway Park.
Demand for
Duffley
to release a CD swelled, propelling the young
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YouTube sensation Christopher Duffley's podcast, Mission Possible, featured Heisman trophy winner Doug Flutie as a guest this summer. |
singer
and
his family to travel to Nashville to work with
multi-Dove Award-winning producer, songwriter and arranger Steven V. Taylor (Michael W. Smith, Matt Redman, Veggie Tales).
The result was an 11-song compilation of inspirational, patriotic
and sacred songs,
titled
Eyes Of My Heart,
that reaches de
ep into listeners' hearts and encourages them to see with new eyes. His follow-up project, Believer, released to much acclaim in 2015. Duffley is currently in the studio putting the finishing touches on his Fall 2016 release, Keep On.
"Although the circumstances have been difficult and we have had challenges, we have found much joy and so many more blessings," says Christine Duffley. "Family life is imperfect and messy, and it has been a journey of love, forgiveness and abandonment. Through it all, however, we are grateful that Christopher's biological parents chose life and, now, God is using this life to touch the world for Christ."
About 20/20: Young & Gifted:
ABC News has expanded its original digital content slate with
20/20: Young & Gifted a new original series featuring profiles of prodigies who utilize their talents to better their lives and the lives of those around them. The seven-part series is available on ABCNews.com and across ABC News' digital platforms. The new series represents
20/20's first foray into original digital content. To watch Christopher Duflley on
20/20: Young & Gifted, visit
tinyurl.com/hc94sy4.
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To schedule an interview, contact:
McCain & Co. Public Relations
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