Finally tonight, music is such a big part of our lives, whether it was Sinatra or Elvis in the fifties, The Beatles in the sixties, classic rockers like The Eagles in the seventies, or pop sensations Michael Jackson, Madonna and Prince in the eighties.

Yeah, those are the ones I love, that's my generation.

Whichever generation you grew up with, there's a sense of nostalgia for it.

"Carolina Impacts" Jason Terzis joins us with more.

- Well, when we think of nostalgia, it usually represents the things that we grew up with, and those things can vary from person to person, generation to generation.

But something you don't usually see much is someone tapping into someone else's nostalgia to give them a sense of enjoyment, and in this case, it's playing the classics on piano.

But there's also something else.

(upbeat piano music) It's a Thursday evening at The Sharon at SouthPark residents making their way in, chatting with friends, some enjoying a glass of wine, filling the room to listen to and sing along with some of the classics.

(upbeat piano music) - And then when he starts playing that piano, you know it is a God given talent.

- [Jason] The pianist isn't in their generation, but he knows all the songs from it.

- Everybody thinks he's terrific.

- [Jason] He hits all the right keys, foot pedals too.

The sounds he creates, pure magic.

- He just, he makes you happy.

I mean, you can see how many people come and love listening to him, just smile after smile.

- [Jason] But the catch, 23-year-old William Thames can't actually see what he's playing.

- Hearing you right now is how I see you, hearing is my sight.

The eye condition that I was born with was called Leber's congenital amaurosis, and the short of that is LCA.

- I still don't understand how someone who was born as he was could learn to play like he does.

(upbeat piano music) - [Jason] Blind since birth, Will's parents introduced him to music by giving him a keyboard when he was just four and a half.

- And it had all these, you know, prerecorded songs on there, like a lot of keyboards like that did.

And it had one of the most famous nursery rhymes ever, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

♪ Twinkle, twinkle little star - So I was listening to it one day.

I repeated the melody of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" from the recording I heard, just from what I could remember by ear.

- Will could just hear the song and play it.

- And then my parents were like, "Well, shoot, he's got a gift."

(upbeat music) - [Jason] He dabbled with the drums, but it was the piano that drew him in.

♪ Very superstitious - [Jason] Inspired by the likes of Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles, Will started taking lessons.

- Stevie Wonder, when I met him, he surprised me with a harmonica with his name and my name signed on it.

(upbeat harmonica music) I got to actually talk to this guy for 15 minutes.

I will never forget it.

He's the reason I do what I do.

- [Audience Member] Go, Will!

(audience cheers) (audience applauds) - [Jason] At Myers Park High School, he was in the talent show.

(upbeat piano music) And it was around that time, he started playing one night a week at The Sharon at SouthPark, back then known as Sharon Towers.

- I need to do this for school hours, like service hours, kind of out in the community doing things, 'cause they kind of required that for you in high school.

- [Jason] Living at The Sharon, Will's grandmother Margaret, who's not quite sure where he got his talent from.

- I don't know where Will got that.

He did not get any music from me, none, zilch.

(laughs) He developed that all himself.

(laughs) - [Jason] After finishing high school during the COVID year of 2020- - What a year it was.

- [Jason] Will return to The Sharon, not because he had to for school service hours, but because he simply wanted to.

- But I started back in 2022.

In 2024, summer of that year, I added Tuesdays to my schedule just 'cause of the overwhelming demand.

People just seemed to really enjoy this.

- He is a nice young man, he's smart as he can be and he's good at what he does.

- I want to hear y'all sing a little bit though, 'cause, you know, y'all have been so quiet and I know it's probably because we have this camera guy here, but that should not deter you guys.

That should only inspire y'all.

- Okay.

(upbeat piano music) - [Jason] Will continues to play simply for the enjoyment, developing bonds, not just with his grandmother, but other residents of the community, and he does it for free.

- Well, he gets food here, he really, and somebody that eats two or three, four grilled cheese and two orders of fries, you know, that adds up a little bit.

- [Interviewer] So he is getting paid is what you're saying?

- (laughs) Yes.

- The reason I love this place is the people.

You can't not be, even in my situation, in a happy mood when you hear people singing to these songs they grew up with that take 'em back to just the simple days, the simple times.

(upbeat piano music) - [Jason] Word about Will soon spread, leading to more playing gigs at other homes around town, like this one at Aldersgate Senior Living.

(upbeat piano music) - In fact, a lot of these communities I play at, the reason I'm even able to say I'm playing at 'em was because of friends and other friends, like residents that are there, or friends from church that spoke to the communities and were like, "You gotta get this guy here."

- [Jason] And he was even invited by the Charlotte Knights Baseball Team to play at a game.

(upbeat music) - But I like putting people in a good mood.

You know, Billy Joel said it best in his song, you know, people come to see him or come to see a piano man just to forget about life for a while.

- [Jason] As for Will himself, he's currently enrolled at Central Piedmont, with his goal of enrolling in the communications department next year at Appalachian State.

- I want to go into radio broadcasting ultimately.

Radio is my version of television, essentially, because you can't see what the radio personality's saying, you can only hear it.

- [Jason] And as for his blindness, Will is actually just fine with it.

After all, it's all he's ever known.

- 'Cause I don't ever wanna see.

I know there are a lot of things out there that say, you know, there are cures out there for people to see, but I'd never want that 'cause this is how I've been all my life.

- I just love stories of people overcoming.

Where else does he play?

- You know, as time goes on, he's got more and more gigs going.

Will's certainly becoming the man in demand.

In addition to his regular weekly gigs at The Sharon and at Aldersgate, he's recently added The Barclay at SouthPark as well as Matthews Glen and Windsor Run.

Southminster is another one that he's also playing at.

People might wanna know, how does he get to and from?

Ride share.

So, you know, he's very big with Uber and Lyft and, you know, picks him up from his home in Matthews and takes him to all the places, and so he's able to get everywhere he needs to go.