A man who spent a decade homeless in England has raised more than $54,000 for charity since a stranger filmed him at a church piano and the internet christened him the Night Church Pianist.
Rhys Wynne-Jones had been homeless for 10 years when he sought refuge at St. Mary’s Church in Penzance, Cornwall, on a cold January night. The church is one of Britain’s Night Churches, which stay open around the clock to vulnerable people.
He got talking to the volunteers, then asked whether he could use their piano. He was 34, and music had been his coping mechanism all his life.
What came out was Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, and volunteers and visitors drifted over to listen.
“There is a lot of noise in my head, but when I play piano my head goes quiet, I feel calm,” he said.
One of the volunteers posted a video of the performance on Facebook, where it spread fast and the comments filled with people asking who he was. Nobody knew his name, so the internet gave him one: The Nightchurch Pianist.
When Rhys came forward, he was invited to play the song at a charity gig alongside Ronnie Wood, Peter Andre and the cast of EastEnders. He also got somewhere to live, moving into a new Coastline Housing development in west Cornwall.
In the 30 months since that night he has raised more than £40,000, about $54,000, for homeless charities and other causes.
“I don’t see myself as a professional pianist or a celebrity figure. I only need enough money to cover my expenses.”
“I just love to play the piano to raise money for homeless charities and good causes.”
He has since worked with Peter Andre on a television pilot and has gigs booked across a range of venues, including a theater production in Bristol. The act has its flourishes too: he recites every country in the world, the elements of the periodic table and the first 100 digits of pi.
Rhys is clear that a front door did not fix everything, and says “the pain doesn’t end just because you’ve got a key.” He uses the bleak memories from the streets, and the friends he has made on Instagram, to push himself to help other people.
These days he practices on a Roland keyboard, in a home of his own.
