ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WKRC) - The sound of music can be a powerful thing, and a local man is proving just that.
Twenty-one-year-old Braedon Ramer is not letting physical challenges hold him back from taking the stage. This singer made his first professional debut at Grove Park Grille in Anderson Township. Local 12 caught up with him before his big performance.
“I just love music and that's my life,” Ramer said.
As Ramer will tell you, “Music is life, and that’s why our hearts have beats.” It’s an unknown quote printed on the back of his business card.
Music is surely what keeps his heart beating.
“Braedon was placed with us at 16 days old as a foster child, and then we just fell in love with him right away,” said Jenny O'Brien, Ramer’s mom. “Braedon did a lot of crying when he was little, but the older he got, the more I figured out about him. I started playing music and he would stop crying every time.”
Ramer has cerebral palsy.
“When he's seen neurologists in the past, they think that he can't talk because he does have a significant amount of brain damage. So, he doesn't always understand things going on, but he can remember every word to every song he's ever heard. So it's just pretty amazing,” O’Brien said. “[Music] just makes him forget about any sort of pain he has, and if he has to go through a procedure, to have headphones with music playing on them so it just brings some happiness.”
Ever since Ramer was a kid, he’s been singing behind a mic. He’s no stranger to performing. He’s been embraced by the music scene with many performers bringing him up on stage.
“So Braedon, he came to one of my shows at Jim and Jack's ... We used to play there once a month, and then comes Braedon, and he wants the microphone. And we're like, 'OK,' and we hand him the microphone and he doesn't miss a lick,” said Dan Varner, singer and guitarist for Varner/Netherton Revival.
That was about six or seven years ago, and since then, Ramer has come to a lot of shows.
“He always asks, 'When are we playing next?' It's not, 'What am I playing next week?' He's part of the band when he's there, so it's, 'When are we playing next?'” Varner said.
As for the crowd, they’re all in.
“Sometimes they don't let him leave the stage. They ask for more, and he's a tough act to follow,” Varner said. “His smile lights up a room. It really does. He's been on stage with me in front of thousands of people. ... There's no way for him to get to the stage, so we had the bouncers come over, we lift him up on a 4-foot stage, and we bring him out there. And when he starts singing, you look out into the crowd and they see his smile. Everybody smiles. Sometimes you see tears. They can't believe they're witnessing what he's doing.”
Behind the mic is a young man with an infectious smile pursuing what he loves with nothing holding him back.
“That’s what it's all about. Loving music makes the world go round. Right, buddy? Yes it does,” Varner said.
Ramer says his next goal is to travel to Alabama to sing "Sweet Home Alabama" there. He’s also currently in the process of writing his own song, which he will title “Not Just a Boy in a Wheelchair.” He hopes his song will allow people to see his ability to sing, not the fact he is in a wheelchair.