Millions of videos make their way online every year, but some affect us more than others. One policeman thought he was about to capture a magical moment on the subway. However, a video of a woman singing soon turned into something entirely different. The world wanted to know her story.
A strange noise
One LAPD police officer was at a subway station in Los Angeles when he heard a noise. It wasn’t something he expected to hear. In fact, it was someone singing. The subway was usually filled with commuters.
However, it seemed as though the station was empty, and the woman had it to herself. The police officer knew that he had to capture the moment. Little did he know that video was about to change the woman’s entire life.
Sharing the clip
The woman was singing an opera song. Her lyrics and angelic voice filled the station, and the officer was caught up in the moment. The LAPD officer decided to upload the clip to the force’s social media page.
The officer wanted the world to know that everyone in the city had their own voice, but it wasn’t long before millions of people saw the clip and were amazed by the singing. They wanted to know all about the woman behind the voice.
Losing her income
It turned out the woman in the clip was Emily Zamourka. She was 52 years old and moved from the former Soviet Union republic Moldova to Los Angeles 24 years ago. Sadly, once she arrived, things started to take a turn.
Emily had always been a musician but had lost her violin to thieves. She no longer had a way to make money and ended up having to live on the streets. However, being homeless wasn’t the beginning of Emily’s struggle.
A change in situation
Emily was known as Liudmila in her hometown before she moved to the US. The musician was the youngest of nine children who all grew up as a part of a banned religion in the area. However, their parents were determined to stick to their faith.
Everything seemed to be going well until Emily was two-and-a-half years old. Her mom developed heart issues and was forced to give her youngest daughter up for adoption. Emily ended up living with family friends from the same church.
Learning the truth
There are different stories about how Emily learned about her adoption. One of her former school friends told the Daily Mail that Emily learned about the adoption from school friends before she returned home and demanded to learn the truth.
The teenager then flitted between her new family and her birth family, but Emily never knew where she fit in. Although her adopted parents struggled for money, they saved all they could to buy Emily a violin and piano. They just wanted her to feel at home.
Growing her passion
Emily soon learned how to play her new instruments, and everyone could tell there was an immediate difference in her. All of a sudden, she seemed to come to life thanks to the power of music. Thankfully, this was enough for Emily to bond…
with both of her families. By the time that she was 17 years old, Emily knew that she wanted to study music and enrolled in university to learn all about her favorite passion in life. Here, she started to play for the university’s orchestra.
Learning her skills
Although the university promised to teach Emily everything that she needed, it wasn’t long before things started to nosedive. Emily signed up as a soloist in the school choir. Her voice was unique, and unlike anyone else’s.
However, Emily loved singing so much that she would burst into song at any opportunity. She also learned how to play the piano all on her own and would often press two keys at once. This appeared to be against the rules – and her professors weren’t impressed.
A unique talent
Her classmates soon noticed that Emily had her own way of doing things, even if the teachers wanted her to learn their way. Emily had learned how to play music by hearing a piece rather than reading sheet music. It was an impressive skill.
As if all of her studying and music wasn’t enough to keep her busy, Emily would also clean the floors at university for some extra money. She wanted to be the one to pay her way through school. She didn’t want to rely on anyone else.
Changing her ways
All throughout her time at college, Emily focused her energy on her schoolwork rather than dating – even though her classmates say that plenty of people took an interest. That all changed as soon as she graduated.
Emily met and fell for a man named Anatolii Murga. From the outside, things looked perfect. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. The marriage started to fall apart before Anatolli passed away, and Emily moved back to live with her birth family. However, this didn’t last for long.
A new plan
The Soviet Union collapsed, and the family was forced to move to the US. This was the perfect new beginning for Emily to start her new life as a musician. Emily was 25 years old when she first arrived in the country and settled in California just two years later.
Emily worked odd jobs until she moved to Washington in the hopes of setting up her own music teaching business. She would fund her new adventure thanks to her waitressing work. Although she met a new man, things weren’t meant to last.
Finding her place
Emily thought that she had landed her big break when a music group approached her and asked for some music. She apparently worked hard and even recorded an album with the group, but it never led to the chance that she hoped.
In 2004, Emily decided to return to her hometown for a short while before heading back to the US. She knew that she needed to make money to send back to her ill father living in Moldova. Everything seemed to be falling into place.
Noisy neighbor
She found an apartment to call “home,” but things weren’t easy for Emily. Her landlord and neighbors could often hear her playing piano at all hours of the night. The neighbors grew so annoyed that they complained about the noise.
Emily also started to collect pigeons. Her landlord told the Daily Mail that she could have had 50 or more at one point as Emily would feed and capture injured birds before trying to nurse them back to health in the apartment.
Behind bars
Things were about to get even worse for the musician. Emily was teaching piano at her local church, but also found other ways to spend her time when she was away from work. Sadly, these hobbies landed her behind bars.
Emily was handed three convictions for petty theft as well as one for grand theft between 2011 and 2013. Emily was eventually banned from her local Target, a supermarket, and a mall. Emily’s wandering hands landed her in jail over Christmas, and she was forced to serve 200 hours of community service.
Fearing the worst
Even though she lived in the US, Emily remained close to her old friends from her hometown. That was until 2013. Something seemed to change, and no one had any idea where she had gone. The worst bit?
Emily had just announced that she was going through some health issues, and her friends feared the worst. In fact, they believed that she had passed away until they saw the video of Emily singing on the news. After six years, they finally knew that she was safe.
The start of the end
It turned out there was a very good reason that Emily had disappeared from people’s lives. She was struggling with a lot of health complications, and she was in and out of the hospital. Sadly, that was the beginning of a downward spiral.
The medical bills became too much for Emily, who soon found that she needed another way to raise the money she needed to pay them off. There was nothing left to do but head out onto the streets with her violin and play for money.
Caught in a crime
This seemed to be the trick that Emily needed. Her landlord told the Daily Mail that he had always known Emily for her skills on the piano. It looked as though she had plenty of talents up her sleeve.
Unfortunately, the world soon had other plans for the struggling musician. She was playing her violin when a thief ran past and grabbed the instrument. Although people in the street saw the incident and ran after them, it was too late.
Gone for good
The thief threw the violin to one side in a bid to get away. However, the impact was enough to completely destroy her violin. Sadly, the instrument meant a lot more to Emily than anyone ever realized.
It was a family heirloom and was thought to be worth $10,000. While she could have sold it to pay off her bills, Emily couldn’t bear the thought of parting with the violin. Now, both her income and most expensive item was gone for good.
Left with no choice
Having no way to make any money meant that Emily’s debts soon raised beyond anything she could afford. She already had her medical bills, and the rent quickly became impossible to pay. Things were piling up.
Emily’s landlord wanted to help, but he was left with no choice other than to evict his tenant. This brought up new problems for Emily. Her family members offered her a place to stay. The issue? Emily refused to part with her pigeons. If they weren’t welcome, then she wouldn’t budge.
Not like the others
Everyone worried about how Emily would cope with being homeless as she wasn’t like many of the other people living on the street in the area. Sure, she was eccentric, but people feared that she could be an easy target.
Apparently, many of the people in the city relied on illegal substances or drink. Emily merely got caught up in medical bills that got out of hand. However, Emily was determined to make it work. She felt there was no other way.
Eyes on the prize
It wasn’t long before Emily found a regular spot in a parking lot. Here, she used cardboard as a mattress and kept all of her things in a shopping cart. This wasn’t the life she wanted to lead, and she had no way to contact her friends in her hometown.
Even when life got her down, Emily still had grand dreams of taking her music to the stage. She wanted to become a professional musician more than anything. Being homeless wouldn’t stand in her way.
The perfect acoustics
So what was Emily to do? She had no instrument and no way to make any music. That was until she found the subway. It wasn’t long before she realized the acoustics in the tunnels were better than she ever imagined.
Emily began to sing here as much as she could to help show off her talents and make a little bit of extra money. She told the Daily Mail that she didn’t want to be a burden on anyone or have people feel sorry for her.
Breaking the news
The story was about to get even more bizarre as Emily never even realized that she was becoming such a hit until friends of hers told her about the online clip. All of a sudden, Emily hoped it would be the end of her bad luck.
The video had been viewed a few thousand times when a local news station was able to track her down. Emily was hopeful that the video would mean she could finally get back to playing the violin and have a roof over her head again.
Hearing the name
One of her friends back in her hometown said they were cleaning their kitchen and had the TV on in the background when she heard the news that Emily was still alive. Paulina told the Daily Mail that she instantly recognized the name.
She was one of the many that thought Emily had passed away after they lost contact ten years before. Apparently, learning that her friend was still alive was enough for Paulina to cry for half a day.
Reunited at last
Emily’s adoptive and biological mothers were both overwhelmed to hear the news. Apparently, her adoptive mother hadn’t been able to contact her daughter for two years before she heard the news. Thankfully, going viral was enough to reunite Emily and her biological mother.
Sadly, this was just two days before her mother passed away. Although their time was short, it was time that Emily could have missed out on if the officer never captured her singing. The family was all asking for privacy while they grieved, but the world wanted to know about Emily.
Welcome with open arms
Apparently, Emily’s hometown wanted to welcome her back to the neighborhood. Paulina was upset to learn that the American dream never went in her friend’s way, while others wanted to try and help. Olga Lozan is the director…
of the town’s Fine Arts School and wanted Emily to know that she was always welcome home. In fact, he hoped that she would teach her musical talents to the students. However, Paulina wanted Emily to stay away as she felt the town was crumbling.
Offers in all directions
It’s believed that the video of Emily was enough to see one of her friends reach out and offer her a place to stay. However, other reports said that she had been able to land a spot in a woman’s shelter until she found something more permanent.
As if that wasn’t enough, hundreds of offers for recording contracts soon flooded her way, but it’s believed that Emily has rejected all of them so far. Joel Diamond, who has been nominated for Grammys over the years, offered to team up with Emily for an album.
The chance of a lifetime
Joel hoped to use Emily’s vocals and his producing skills to give her the album that she’d always desired, but it seems as though she is yet to take the offer. However, she was given a chance to appear at the opening of the Little Italy district.
It’s the area that made her so famous in the first place and gave Emily her first chance to sing on stage in many years. The best bit? It was the first bit of money that she had earned in a long time.
Wanting to help
Michael Trujillo was another person that wanted to help. He hoped to donate a few dollars to Emily to help her find somewhere to stay for a few nights. However, it soon turned into something that he never expected.
Michael set up a GoFundMe page where people could donate and keep up with the story. It wasn’t until he woke up the next day that Micheal realized how much people wanted to help as there was $1,000 worth of donations in one night.
Still without money
Now, the page has more than $80,000 waiting to go to Emily. The catch? Paulina says that she is yet to receive any of it – and is still no closer to getting her record deal. Apparently, they have kept in contact since being reunited.
Paulina says that Emily has never liked people paying for her and doesn’t want to be seen as a charity case. Paulina told the Daily Mail that the only money Emily has received is her payment for performing at the opening.
Looking to the future
Michael also told the Daily Mail that Emily is still without her money. Apparently, he is trying to talk to GoFundMe to see if there is a way that he can get the payment over to her. However, there is a lot to consider.
Michael says that they need to find out if Emily has a bank account to receive the money. Paulina believes that all Emily needs is an instrument and a roof over her head and that the rest will work itself out.
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