Biography
Recording artist and YouTube sensation Keenan Cahill worked hard to cement his place in pop culture. For one thing, he overcame incredible adversity, suffering from a rare genetic disorder called Mucopolysaccaridosis (MPS-6) since birth. For another, at the young age of 18, Cahill achieved international success initially with just the help of his iMac that he received for his 13th birthday. The Elmhurst, Illinois teen rose to fame with a series of hugely entertaining self-produced videos of himself singing and lip-syncing the hottest top 40 hits. Keenan switched over to lip-syncing to find his audience. Keenan would return to singing the songs once he gained an audience of over 459 million.
Keenan released his first original song on July 31, 2012, titled "Hands Up" with UK sister-duo Electrovamp, and released the music video on November 20, 2012, premiering it in the US on The Insider. "Hands Up" peaked at #14 on the US Billboard Club Play/Dance Chart. Keenan's second single was with French DJ Oriska and UK female group Doremi Fly called "Tonight." He debuted his third single "Closer" with Scottish Hip-Hop Duo SHY & DRS in late 2013.
Keenan's cover of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" first threw Cahill into the spotlight. Earning millions of views on YouTube and a legion of adoring fans for its lovably goofy take on Perry's ode to teenage love, Cahill suddenly found himself in the midst of a whirlwind of media attention. The video found its way to Perry herself and went from 600,000 views to 3 million in the span of a single week. The video has over 60 million views to date. Suddenly, Cahill was a celebrity himself.
Since then, Cahill collaborated with some of the biggest names in music including recent videos with 50 Cent, David Guetta, Justin Bieber and The Wanted; he would finally record his dream video with Katy Perry, but it was his famous "Down On Me" video with hip-hop artist 50 Cent that would make Keenan a household name. Keenan credited his start to two talk show hosts, Jimmy Kimmel and Chelsea Handler, for first discovering his videos. He thanked Chelsea for introducing him to actress Jennifer Aniston, who put him in his first commercial for Smartwater, and it was DJ Pauly D from MTV's "Jersey Shore" who taught Keenan how to "fist pump" for his song "Beat Dat Beat."
For a kid whose life had, up to that point, been defined by what he couldn't do as a result of his rare genetic disease, MPS VI (estimated to occur once in every 340,000 live births), the impossible became possible almost overnight: the boy who spent the better part of his childhood shuttling between hospitals, suddenly had no limits on who he could become and what he could achieve.
With his new fan base of over 649 thousand subscribers and 459 million video views, Keenan caught the interests of some of today's biggest superstars - with cameos including 50 Cent for "Down On Me" circulating over 60 million views, David Guetta's Mega-Mix with over 32 million views and DJ Pauly D in "Beat Dat Beat" with over 10 million views, Cahill was one of the highest subscribed music artists on YouTube.
In addition to Cahill's wildly successful YouTube channel and a winningly funny appearance on E!'s "Chelsea Lately," Cahill has also appeared on CW's "America's Top Model" with Tyra Banks, NBC's "America's Got Talent" with Nick Cannon and ABC's American Music Awards performing with LMFAO, Justin Bieber, Will.i.Am and David Hassellhoff. He created viral campaigns for the World Series champion San Francisco Giants, the NBA's New York Knicks, Smartwater (starring Jennifer Aniston), and Wrigley's gum (with Serenading Unicorn). Keenan partnered with Paramount Pictures to promote the "Footloose" movie, making an amazing video with its star Julianne Hough.
