If there is a more aptly named man than “Happy George” Napier, I haven’t met him yet. Happy George is happy to talk to me on the phone, happy to have discovered his true calling doing singing telegrams, and he’d be happy to liven up your next party or life milestone!
Happy George, for those who have not had the pleasure of witnessing one of his short performances at a birthday, retirement, or engagement party, makes house calls delivering classic singing telegrams, with panache and infectious enthusiasm. He and his wife Megan operate the small business out of their home in Salem, Indiana, and they’ve been doing it full time now for almost 6 years.
“Our territory is the entire United States,” explains George. “We’ve delivered grams in just about every single state, from Boston, to Florida, you name it. I’ve even done some ‘virtual’ singing telegrams for folks overseas!
“But generally, as you can imagine, we do most of our work within driving distance of our home base. We do a bunch of jobs in Madison, and we love coming here. But we’ll drive to Atlanta or Nashville or Evansville or Indy or wherever people need a little musical happiness. I’d estimate I’ve done about 5,000 telegrams since I started.
“A lot of the jobs are for birthdays, so I sing that song a lot. I have The Happy George Theme Song I always include. But I also sing songs that everybody knows and anybody can sing along with, like You Are My Sunshine, or Happy and You Know It. I’ll also write a custom song for certain special occasions sometimes.
“I actually have a background in music going way back. I had a band called Seedus that toured around quite a bit and had a pretty good following. But about 8 years ago I kind of fell into the telegram thing, and it has been so much fun and we’ve been quite successful with it.”
It takes a special kind of personality to just insert yourselves into people’s lives and endeavor to entertain them for a few minutes. I asked George about any especially memorable jobs he’s done over the years.
“Well yeah, there was this one guy who was having a birthday, and an out of town relative paid me to go to his house and sing for him. He came to the door, but as soon as he saw me and got the gist, he was having none of it. He started to slam the door, but I stuck my foot in the crack and just kept singing! I figured, I’d been paid to do a telegram, and by gosh, I was gonna deliver it. I got to the end of Happy Birthday and that was it, he shut the door and locked it.
“Another time I got a call from a woman whose cat had disappeared. She claimed it had been kidnapped, or catnapped I guess, and she knew exactly who the culprit was. Her idea was for me to go to this catnapper’s door and sing happy birthday to her cat, and when the cat heard his name, he’d come running and the lady would nab her cat back! I thought about it, but ultimately I turned that job down.
“I do most of my jobs in my Happy George costume, which is short jean cut-offs, a vest with no shirt, cowboy boots and hat, and my guitar, of course. But I also have a Reno 911 type of costume, a sort of Elvis get up, and even a Happy Yeti. For a small extra fee I’ll show up as Super Happy, wearing my bright pink Speedo shorts. Prices for the Madison area are in the $205 range.
“It’s been a great experience, and Megan and I have so much fun every day, just making people laugh and enjoy their special days. I’ve been told I maybe should start a podcast, where I can share my experiences and maybe impart a bit of my happy life philosophy. I think I may just do that, so keep an eye out for it.”
If you’d like to see Happy George in action, just go on YouTube and search “Happy George Singing Telegram.” And if you’d like to hire him, his email is: [email protected].
HOT TIP OF THE WEEK:
Saturday is probably the prime day for live music in Madison this weekend (although there is music on Friday too, as always.) Saturday has music happening all around downtown, including at the Off Broadway Taproom, which is one of my favorite spots to catch a show. There’s also some music to be had on the hilltop at the VFW, which is open to the public on Saturday. The Five Piece Chicken Dinner Band with Joe & Deano at Mad Paddle will be a very lively and fun event, building on a summer-long string of great nights at the old Mad Pad, thanks to new owners Travas & Brenda. Bit hat tip to them for bringing that awesome venue to life!
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