Troy Bass walked in the door with his usual FedEx packages in hand, but this time he belted out the theme from “The Grinch” – and it was in the same deep resonating tone of the original recording.
It started as a request by his customers, who recognized the connection and simply asked him to sing the theme. When he did, Bass said the response was “Wowwwww.”
And his days as the singing FedEx guy took off on social media.
It was a perfect fit for Christmas, but certainly not all the 50-year-old New Orleans resident has been able to do with his deep, distinctive voice that’s been compared to that of actor James Earl Jones, singer Barry White and the character Bowser from the long ago aired television show, “Sha Na Na.”
To hear him singing, click here.
“It’s unique … something they don’t get to hear everyday,” he said of his voice. “It freaks people out.”
But it’s all real.
For as long as Bass has been the FedEx man, which is nearly 11 years in St. Charles Parish, he has crooned for his customers – and they love it. He has four routes that average more than 100 stops a day, but that number jumped to 400 on Dec. 19, so he sings for lots of people.
“I use it all over,” he said. “It makes me feel good. It’s not everyday we get to please with a voice like that. It’s an attention grabber.”
This includes the FedEx station where fellow workers meeting every morning who typically ask him to sing the song, “Personality,” to kick off their workday. On deliveries, it isn’t unusual for him to sing the Mighty Mouse theme, “Here I am to save the day.”
“It’s just a thing I picked up,” he said of using his deep voice to sing. “I do DJ, but I don’t know … it just became a part of me and it just took off from that.”
He used to sing outside of the job, but the demanding hours don’t’ leave much time for it other than at work and he does enjoy it. Bass also hopes to do voice-over work in New Orleans and see where it goes from there.
“I think that was a God blessing,” Bass said of his unique.
At a young age, Bass knew he’d have the silky, dark voice. His father and grandfather both have deep voices, but he proudly claimed that his is much deeper.
It’s so deep that customers have questioned whether he’s playing a trick on them. Bass said his voice resonates so well that he told customers, “You ought to hear me in the morning because I crack glass.”
“It’s a gift,” said. “I try to use it as much as I can. I try not to take it for granted. I just keep it low key, but I appreciate the love.”
That’s our crazy cool fedex man!