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At one stage his debut single was outselling singing superstar Justin Timberlake and he has pulled in an online audience topping six million.

Not bad for a 96-year-old who’s practically tone deaf.

Yet the story of Fred Stobaugh’s success with Oh Sweet Lorraine – a love letter to his wife of 73 years – is bittersweet.

Because the great, great-grandfather from Illinois in the US, penned the song while he was in mourning for the love of his life who passed away in April at the age of 91.

Fred says: “It comforts me to have written this song. I know she’s looking down on me, smiling, knowing I’ve written this for her.

“I miss her terribly, especially evenings when I’m on my own. There is not a day goes by when I don’t visit her in the cemetery.

“I first met her when she was working on a root beer stand in 1938, she was bringing trays of drinks to car windows.

“She was real timid like, but I fell in love with her right there and then. She was just the prettiest girl I ever saw.”

After channelling his grief into the lyrics, Fred submitted them for a songwriting contest promoted by his local newspaper.

Musicians at the Green Shoe Studio, who ran the ­competition, were so touched they set his words to music.

Four months on and the track has been downloaded more than 200,000 times and a string of musicians have covered it on YouTube. It even hit number five in the iTunes chart, ahead of some music megastars.

As well as making it into the charts of Switzerland and Austria, he entered America’s top 50 at number 42, making him the oldest person to get into the Billboard Hot 100. Tony Bennett was the previous holder of the title when he charted two years ago aged 85.

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Fred, who lived with his wife in Peoria, about 150 miles south-west of Chicago, is enjoying being a household name in the US.

“I’m in a daze,” he says. “The song has just exploded all over the world. It’s all been like a big dream to me. I saw the ad in the paper about the contest and I just thought: ‘Shoot, I’ll just write a letter and send it in.’

“I didn’t even think I’d get an answer. You know I just sat there one evening and the song just came to me – the words just seemed to fit Lorraine somehow. We both loved music throughout our time together.

“We would regularly take coach tours to places like Nashville. In fact, one of us would hardly go anywhere without the other. So she’d think this song was just wonderful.”

Fred was just 21 when he first met 16-year-old Lorraine between the end of the Great Depression and the Second World War.

He says: “We dated for two years, then got married. June 26 would have been our 73rd anniversary. She gave me 75 years of her life.”

The couple had three daughters, four grandchildren, five great grandchildren and one great great granddaughter.

With a chorus of “Oh sweet Lorraine, I wish we could do the good times all over again. Oh sweet Lorraine, life only goes around once but never again,” the song reflects the couple’s love of music and each other.

But despite the captivating story, Fred’s song only became a hit through sheer luck.

The competition was only open to musicians who made their own recordings and uploaded them to YouTube. Fred’s mode of entry was more old school.

Jacob Colgan of Green Shoe Studios, says: “Instead of a link to video we received a very large manila envelope entitled: Singer ­songwriter contest.

“When I opened it up there was a letter from a 96-year-old man who said: ‘I’ve written a song for my wife.’

It was only as I read through the letter that I realised his wife had passed away just a month earlier. It was just so heartwarming. He also said he was not a musician and not actually a very good singer.

“In fact on the envelope itself it says: ‘PS I don’t sing – I would scare people, ha ha’.”

Although they felt he was ineligible, the studio bosses instead decided, without even meeting Fred, to set the lyrics to music and record the track professionally.

Jacob, who sang the finished composition, says: “When we told him he said: ‘Well, that’s great, but how much is this gonna cost me? I don’t have any money.’

“Then when we told him we were going to do it all for free he started crying on the phone. He said: ‘Why would you do this for me?’

“We just said we weren’t just doing it for him, that we were doing it together because his words had touched us so much.”

But even before the track was released, a ­documentary chronicling its creation seemed to capture the imagination of a nation.

From the moment the nine-minute recording was posted online in July, viewings soared on YouTube and Vimeo. It has now been seen by over six million people.

“We thought the documentary might do well,” says Jacob. “But, we never expected the song to hit the charts.

"We’re freaking out. But really, we’re just honoured we’ve been able to do this for the love of Fred’s life.”

Now the studio and Fred are planning a follow up, once again singing the praises of his beloved Lorraine.

In the meantime he has been besieged by the media in the US who’ve both interviewed him at home and flown him across the States to television studios.

His grandson Rocky Hemp, 42, has found himself acting as his chaperone and press officer, fielding calls from TV, radio and the press and making sure he is safe.

“It’s just been crazy,” he says. “But there was no way I would want him to be going off all over the place on his own. I’ve been filling all sorts of roles, including managing his Facebook page – and, you know what, I don’t even think he really understands what Facebook is.

"But this is kind of payback time because when I was younger I was into writing and recording music and when he would go off to Nashville to watch shows he would always take cassettes of my work and try and make sure I ended up in the right hands.

“He’s been a terrific grandfather to me over the years, and I had a terrific grandmother too.”

With huge sales has come some financial reward too, with around a third of the purchase price of each download going to Fred.

"It won’t make him a millionaire though,” laughs Rocky.

“But I think he has really enjoyed these past few weeks.

“He’s a simple, regular guy who’s suddenly had a little taste of stardom – it’s been relief after seeing him so upset and lonely for so long.”

And Fred agrees.

But he says: “As much as I’ve enjoyed the success of the song I would give it all up in a heartbeat to get just a few moments more with Lorraine.”