Billy Gilman: Like Ben

Ben, the two of us need look no more

We both found what we were looking for

With a friend to call my own

I'll never be alone, and you, my friend, will see

You've got a friend in me

It always amazes me the nexus which connects many of the pieces that I do for FH. When I watched Ben, the 1972 sequel to Willard, I didn't know the connections that would be made. When I was a kid, I remember hearing that Michael Jackson's song Ben was written about a rat. I don't really remember it registering though. Jackson was eccentric so it was not really shocking, and I had no real reference, having not seen the film.

The song was indeed sung by Danny (Lee Montgomery) in the film, and although I didn't have a connection to the film, or the rat, I did have a connection when I was younger to the lyrics. Not only did I sing it a few times myself, I still have a VHS copy of Billy Gilman singing it on the 2001 Michael Jackson Anniversary concert and special. I remember the special for many reasons beyond the performances. It was filmed just days before September 11th, and aired shortly after in November 2001.

The special became a bit of an escape for me at the time, and although not a huge fan of Jackson, I was a fan of a lot of his music and loved the special and the huge music stars that appeared. Some of you may remember there was some controversy over how long it took to film it, and with Whitney Houston, and whether her chest was edited for TV given how thin she was during the time of her performance. In addition to the great performances, it was also a bit surreal to see Jackson sitting next to the stage flanked by Elizabeth Taylor and Macaulay Culkin.

My favorite performance of the night was definitely Billy's, and the then 13 year old's performance of Ben. Billy's belted the hell out of the song, and I replayed that VHS tape over and over. I had not heard of Billy when I first saw him on TV, but later learned he was a hugely successful country artist at the time with his 2000 song One Voice a chart topper on both the country and Billboard charts.

Inspired by country singer Ty Herndon coming out in 2014, Gilman posted his own coming out video shortly after Herndon's video went public. Although I am watching and enjoying The Voice this season, I have haven't watched in a few seasons and sadly missed Billy on the shows eleventh season in 2016. Billy was the season's runner-up and thankfully, most of his performances are on Youtube if anyone wants to check them out.