Meet the 'sewer singer' going viral on TikTok with nearly 500K likes
At first glance, Kyle Kilroy might seem like your average waste management company employee.
But the 32-year-old has a not-so-hidden secret talent as a singer that he's been showcasing on TikTok, where he has garnered more than 470,000 profile likes.
Kilroy, who works in contract operations at a waste management company outside Boston, said he made an intentional choice to go by "sewer singer" on social media.
"I work in waste management, you know what I mean? So I'm like, 'The sewer singer, that seems spot on for me,'" Kilroy told ABC News' Will Ganss.
Although he shares video clips of himself singing operatic pop songs like Andrea Bocelli's "Con Te Partirò" and Broadway classics such as "Stars" from "Les Misérables" among the pipes at work, Kilroy said he usually does so when he's on the job solo, checking on the chemical storage plants.
"My coworker's usually out and about. I try to, like, schedule it. So he goes out to lunch or something, and I'm like, 'OK,' because I'm still kind of shy," said Kilroy.
Kilroy said the acoustics at his workplace are "just really great."
"I'm like, 'Well, I'm here more often than I'm not. I might as well take advantage of these sweet acoustics,'" he said of his motivation to start singing underground.
Kilroy said he isn't formally trained in music, but he was exposed to the arts from an early age and briefly sang in a chamber choir in college.
"When I was in preschool, we used to listen to Andrea Bocelli's [1997 album] 'Romanza' on a cassette during nap time. And then I kind of just [taught] myself to sing opera from there," he said.
With so many new fans and followers, Kilroy said he loves the community he's found on social media, and he's happy to see others resonate with his singing.
"The response is honestly just -- it's been so great. Like, I never thought that the opera one would take off as much," he said.
Kilroy said although he's been going viral on TikTok, he doesn't plan to quit his day job anytime soon.
"I actually enjoy my job quite a bit," Kilroy said. "I'm just a blue-collar guy. I work hard and I have a beautiful wife. We have two dogs, a cat, and two horses. I'm in a good place where I don't have regrets."
Kilroy added that his dream would be to one day sing with Bocelli, who he called his "all-time inspiration."
