Sumter woman's video goes viral, local dealership provides new vehicle

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When Kimberly Henderson uploaded a short video of her singing to her youngest daughter, she hardly expected the attention she got two weeks later. She certainly didn’t expect to go “viral,” or having hundreds of thousands of people viewing and sharing the video across the world. She didn’t expect to record a commercial or single with a Los Angeles company. She didn’t expect to have a single on iTunes. But in the short time since she uploaded the video to YouTube around the Thanksgiving holiday, all those things have happened. And now Henderson has a new ride to get her from Point A to Point B as she pursues her music career. Santee Automotive presented Henderson last week with a 2015 Ford Explorer LTD “to help get her on her feet and help her settle down while she works on her career and finds something more reliable,” said Dennis Craven. “Our salesman, Josh Peters, has been following her music all along, and they’re good friends,” Craven said. “Kimberly also worked with my son. Josh came to me and thought it was a good thing to help her out. He was pretty passionate about it.” Henderson said she’s “never had reliable transportation.” “Being a single mom with four kids, that’s been rough,” said Henderson, who works at Colonial Family Practice in Sumter. The Georgia native said things have been looking up since her video went viral in mid-December. “My 1-year-old daughter, Vaida, was crying, so I just started singing,” Henderson said. “It’s kind of our thing.” Henderson said she’s sang since she was about 2 years old. “My mom would play music in the morning when she cleaned, people like Whitney Houston and Stevie Nicks, and I would always sing along,” she said. She said she’s pursued her career before, but without much of the breakthrough success she has hoped for. “I’ve tried out for the shows like American Idol,” she said. So, when the 26-year-old aspiring singer videoed her rendition of Sam Smith’s mournful cover of Houston’s “How Will I Know,” she was doing it more for a personal memory than as an auditioning tactic. “I just wanted to remember one of those special moments with her. Normally the singing puts her right to sleep, so that’s why I do it,” Henderson said. “Then, my sister convinced me to upload it to YouTube. A Seattle radio station shared it, and before I knew it, it was on ‘Good Morning America’ and playing everywhere.” Before Henderson knew it, in fact, the video had more than 1.5 million views on her personal channel. She estimates the video has gotten more than 20 million through other folks sharing it on their sites, and through appearances on the London Daily Mirror website and other newspaper sites throughout the world. “And then I started getting the calls,” Henderson said. “It was contact from a lot of different people, and I wasn’t in a rush to sign anything. This is something I’ve dreamed of, so I didn’t want to mess it up.” One deal she did accept, however, was with Cosco Kids and Break Entertainment, both in Los Angeles. “Cosco did a video for their website, and they flew me out there to do an original song with Break Entertainment,” Henderson said. “That was really exciting.” Henderson celebrated the release of her single, “Tiny Hearts,” on Jan. 14 in Sumter. She co-wrote the song with two songwriters working with Break Entertainment. The release party was held at Colonial Family Practice. “I announced to the public that it was going to happen, and my boss said I should have it here,” Henderson said. Peters was there to celebrate with Henderson. “He told me he had a surprise for me, and it is a brand new 2015 car,” she said. “It’s really crazy.” Peters said he and Henderson have been good friends for several years, and that he booked her when he worked in several Sumter places, one of them The Hamptons in the downtown area. “She actually came to see me in late November, around the time she put up the video,” Peters said. “She needed something newer and more reliable, but it was just never the right time, because Christmas came up. She was having troubles with her battery, and what she was driving wasn’t very reliable.” Peters said he knew Henderson would need something more reliable if she were to pursue her music career further. “I went to talk to Dennis, and we were able to work everything out,” Peters said. “We were just glad to help.” Henderson said she’s now in a good position to pursue music full time, but that she isn’t in a rush to make any decisions. “I’m a single mom, and I’m always going to consider my kids first,” she said, noting her kids, Kayleigh, 9; Brianna, 8; Aiden, 5; and Vaida. “But I’m figuring that I’m 26, and if I’m going to do this, now is the time to do it,” she said. “Everything has just been so crazy and so fast. This is something I’ve always wanted. It’s like a dream come true.”