NYC subway busker who overcame homelessness gets his shot of fame on American Idol
He’s on an express train to stardom.
A self-taught, autistic subway musician from Queens is getting his shot at the big stage on the newest season of “American Idol.”
Shane Dan Turner can often be found in New York City subway stations decked out in a black blazer and entertaining straphangers with classics like The Beatles’ “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” during rush hour.
Turner, 29, turned to music during some of the most difficult times in his life. He taught himself how to play the guitar when he was 13 years old, and temporarily in a Brooklyn foster home, and first performed on the subway at 16 after his family was evacuated during Hurricane Sandy.
“I fell in love with it, and I’ve been doing it ever since,” he told The Post.
Turner, who also struggles with depression, was raised in Far Rockaway in an Orthodox Jewish family that had little, but instilled in him a love of music. He remembers neighbors running extension cords to his family’s house to keep their lights and refrigerator on when their electricity was cut.
His grandfather, a cantor in a synagogue, would sing opera to him as a baby. And his father, a guitarist for more than 40 years, introduced him to AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles, who he lists among his many influences.
At 7 years old, Turner jumped on stage at his uncle’s wedding to sing a Hebrew song for the crowd, and at 10, he auditioned and was accepted into the popular Yeshiva Boys Choir, which he performed with for three years.
Since then, Turner has written about 50 original songs and learned hundreds of others, which he performs at events, open mics and venues.
“Over the years, I built up a repertoire of over 500 cover songs … I’m basically like a living jukebox,” he said.
From his start on the B and Q lines in Brooklyn, he now performs across the city, including at Columbus Circle and Union Square and in the Rockefeller Center station.
But busking has been taxing — and dangerous.
In January, three teens tried to steal Turner’s tips, and he had to wrestle a $20 bill from one who snatched it out of his jar.
Turner makes anywhere from $50 to $200 a day performing. But making ends meet is hard. There are days where he worked 12 hour shifts underground and survived on Red Bull and dollar pizza slices. He even lived in his car for a short time.
But Turner is familiar with struggle and knew he had to keep going.
“I had to keep fighting for what I loved,” he said.
Over the summer, he decided to apply for “American Idol,” and quickly found out he was one of the lucky hundreds out of tens of thousands of applicants that would perform in front of the judges.
“I was just so thrilled to be able to audition in front of Lionel Richie, Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan,” he said. “They are just icons in their field. The fact that I got to perform in front of them was amazing.”
The world won’t find out the results of Turner’s audition until the first episode of season 23 of ABC’s singing competition show airs Sunday at 8 p.m., but he looks forward to tuning in with friends.
“I’m hoping that the audition leads me to become a success as a musician, I’m hoping that I can release albums, I’m hoping I can go on tour,” Turner said.
“I’m hoping I can get paid to do that.”
