A homeless Los Angeles woman who was filmed singing on a subway platform has said her life has changed for the better.
After the Los Angeles Police Department’s clip of her went viral, Emily Zamourka, who is Russian-born, told Fox News that “I thought that this is it, the day has come. The day has come and my dream is being fulfilled.”
The police department wrote in late September that some “4 million people call LA home. 4 million stories. 4 million voices…sometimes you just have to stop and listen to one, to hear something beautiful.”
4 million people call LA home. 4 million stories. 4 million voices…sometimes you just have to stop and listen to one, to hear something beautiful. pic.twitter.com/VzlmA0c6jX
— LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) September 27, 2019
When the clip was uploaded on the LAPD’s Twitter page, Los Angeles councilman Joe Buscaino asked her to sing at the grand opening of Little Italy in San Pedro on Oct. 5.
The woman also might have a recording contract, reported TMZ, which said that Grammy-nominated music producer Joel Diamond drafted an offer letter to her.
Diamond hopes to make a “huge classical-EDM crossover hit record for the subway soprano,” TMZ said.
Her Story
Zamourka said she moved to the United States about 30 years ago but never pursued a career in music.
“It was very hard, and I could not speak a word in English, so music wasn’t going to be something I was very successful at…I was working in two different jobs that were the opposite of music,” she recalled.
Three years ago, she became seriously ill, bankrupting her. She was then forced into the streets and has been homeless since then.
“I definitely believe that there are good people on the street and not only those who take drugs or alcohol, and I don’t do all those things,” said Zamourka. “It was because of illness and not what I chose.”
She said that her violin was also stolen while she was homeless, adding that playing it had been a source of income for her.
“My violin getting stolen was a tragedy for me…because that was what I was hanging on to, that was the only answer for me to move forward,” she told Fox.
Later, she told the news outlet that she wants to work in music.
“I want to work as an artist and sustain myself,” said Zamourka. “I would like to continue and show everybody out there that homeless people need a chance to be helped out, and also I want to show homeless people that being homeless is not the end.”
Meanwhile, two GoFundMe campaigns have raised thousands of dollars for her, with one surpassing $50,000 and the other raising more than $30,000.
