By Filipa Gaspar
A man has broken a Guinness World Record after singing Christmas tunes for 42 hours straight without losing his voice.
Dave Purchase spent almost two days singing Christmas classics from Mariah Carey to Wham! in an attempt to have his name in the book of records.
Despite feeling like he was “hallucinating” and being close to quitting at 32 hours, Dave, 63, did not give up.
He started the challenge at midnight on Wednesday on Dec. 12 and finished on Friday, Dec. 12, after signing 684 songs.
Helping Dave through the singathon at Gloucester’s docks were a dementia choir, a children’s choir, and locals who came to show their support.
Speaking after the challenge Dave, from Gloucester, said it was not just a vocal challenge but also a physical one.
He continued: “I nearly gave up at about 4 o’clock on Friday morning.
“I felt as I couldn’t carry on because I was hallucinating with the lack of sleep. I was falling to sleep singing the songs.
“I though ‘I don’t know whether I can carry on for another 10 hours’ but strangely enough when the crowd started to come into the venue, the adrenaline took over.
“Apart from the lower register of my voice, which had gone, and the falsetto part which was slightly gone, the middle range of my voice was fine.
“I knew that if I could just keep myself awake, I keep myself physically focused, then I can get through this.
“It is a world record and this is what they are about. You literally push yourself to the actual limit to actually achieve that record.”
Dave chose 38 songs, which he repeated 18 times each – making a total of 684 songs.
Some of the tunes on the list included Step Into Christmas, Jingle Bells and Last Christmas.
To abide by the world record rules, each hour, Dave could only have a five-minute break.
He also had the option to sing continuously for four hours to earn a 20-minute break.
Between each song, he could take a break of just 20 seconds.
At 6pm on Friday he had successfully completed the challenge.
He said: “I started to sing and I used to sing for hours when I was a kid.
“I told myself I could do this because I know I can sign for hours.
“Singing used to be my passion. I did cruise ships and theater so I had a background in singing.”
Dave, who owns On Toast in Gloucester, said he wanted to do a “nutty event” to help the docks attract trade.
But most importantly, he said it turned out to be a “brilliant” community event.
Members of the public arrived dressed as characters and singers linked to well-known Christmas songs.
He said: “You had people when we started at midnight on Wednesday, going into the Thursday sitting wanting to sit there for four hours to be our timekeepers.
“People were part of something, they made friends when we did the event because they met people they’d never met before – it was a great interaction between people.
“It was packed and the actual electric atmosphere in the venue was fantastic.”
The current holder of the award is Ewaoluwa Olatunji, from Lagos, Nigeria.
Ewa sang for a total of 31 hours from 27-28 December in 2023 to become the first holder of this record.
She said she took on this challenge to “promote peace and unity” and to inspire confidence in young people.
Dave and his team have now submitted their evidence, including videotapes, time sheets, reels, and photographs, to Guinness for their decision of the record is official.
