Keenan Cahill, a popular YouTube creator who has made lip-syncing videos with celebrities including 50 Cent, Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and more, died Thursday after open-heart surgery on December 15.
I was 27 years old.
«Keenan is an inspiration and let’s celebrate by remembering all the content he created, the artists he collaborated with, the music he produced, and the love he had for everyone who supported him over the years,» his official account posted on Friday. on Facebook, adding that his family has set up a GoFundMe account to help cover funeral costs.
Cahill had Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome, which can cause heart disease and physical limitations similar to dwarfism. Diagnosed at the age of 1, he had a bone marrow transplant in 1997 and various other surgeries over the years to help treat the genetic disease.
On his YouTube account, which has approximately 721,000 subscribers, Cahill’s videos have garnered more than 500 million views. She posted the first lip sync video of herself in August 2010 to Perry’s «Teenage Dream,» which reached 58 million views.
A year later, the pop star met Cahill in person and they filmed a video together.
Cahill’s most popular video was with 50 Cent where they lip synced to «Down on Me», with a total of 60 million views. He has also collaborated with artists like Jason Derulo, David Guetta, LMFAO, Lil Jon, Sean Kingston, Pauly D, and Andy Grammer.
His videos were some of the first widely shared hits of YouTube’s early years, long before apps like Instagram, Vine and TikTok made viral videos a common part of social media. She also released two EPs and four singles on iTunes in the 2010s.