Andy Grammer had a plea: “TEXT ME.”
At least, that’s what it says on his Instagram bio, alongside his phone number, capturing the attention of his 411,000 followers and anyone else who visits his profile. And while skeptics may laugh it off, continuing their scroll through his feed filled with selfies of his two daughters and devotionals to his wife Aijia, one superfan took a shot. In a quick message, she got straight to the point: I volunteer at a camp for kids who have experienced grief. Want to get involved?
The answer, which came in a matter of seconds through a voice note from the singer and not an assistant or publicist, was a resounding yes. Because Grammer—like the some 1,000 kids who head to Experience Camps each summer—knows what it’s like to lose someone close to him, his mom having died of breast cancer in 2009.
But since then, he’s worked on channeling his pain into purpose. In fact, grief has further connected him to friends, fans and strangers alike. “For me,” Grammer recently mused to E! News, “sharing my deepest pains makes it go away faster. It creates a vacuum for the other person to share theirs. And also, it’s just my reality. I miss my mom all the time. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to talk about her.”