Here’s what happened next when a Kennewick waiter’s serenade went viral
Sunday started out as a normal day at work for waiter Alphonso Nichols at Olive Garden in Kennewick.
But it turned into an exciting day for his other job — working on his singing career.
A co-worker told him that a a video of him singing “Happy Birthday” solo to West Richland twins at the restaurant on their 17th birthday had 50,000 views on social media.
A video that the twins’ mom, Amy Haddox, had posted was going viral.
“Phenomenal voice!” and “Wow, so talented” were among the comments posted.
More than 100,000 people eventually watched the video on The Bitchy Waiter’s Facebook page, and it was shown on numerous internet news outlets. For a time it was one of the top six trending stories on the Apple news app.
Nichols said he also he got a call from the TV show “Access Hollywood.”
His phone interview was shown on its companion series, NBC’s “All Access,” with the hosts raving about his performance.
Time magazine and NBC’s Today show also posted stories online.
Happy Birthday 10 times a shift
He serenades people celebrating birthdays 10 to 15 times each shift.
He also sang the birthday song at Sterling’s Restaurant in Kennewick for about 10 years, then moved to Los Angeles for 18 months. Then, he took a job at Olive Garden when he returned to the Tri-Cities nearly a year ago.
Other servers at Olive Garden step in and help with his tables to keep him from falling behind as he serenades birthday celebrations there, he said.
He enjoys singing for birthday guests. But he gets nervous that diners will get tired of hearing him sing and think, “Oh, that guy is singing Happy Birthday again,” he said. “But they seem to be OK with it.”
In fact, many people will stop eating and talking to listen to his soaring, pitch-perfect vocals and applaud when he’s done.
He came to the attention of the Tri-Cities music community as a teen, when he and other members of the group Blackhouse, won best of show at the 2005 Tri-Cities Talent Show.
Recording 3rd album
When hip-hop superstar Lil Wayne came to Kennewick in 2017, Nichols was among the Tri-City performers signed to local label West Coast Records who open the show.
That led to some other gigs, including opening for three shows in Texas with Ja Rule and Ashanti.
More recently Nichols, who once used the stage name Alphy Nics, switched genre’s from rhythm and blues to hip hop and now to Christian.
He’s now recording songs independently for his third album — his first all-Christian music album.
He expects to have his first single out in April, with the album getting released in June, he said.
You can look for it on major internet music platforms, including Apple Music and Spotify, he said.
If you want to hear him sing in the meantime, plan your birthday celebration at Olive Garden and hope it’s during one of his shifts.
This story was originally published December 6, 2019 at 3:00 PM.