Even the most ardent fans of Hallmark Channel fan favorite Daniel Lissing may not know that the former “When Calls The Heart” star has a musical past.
The Australian actor, who was recently seen in Christmas movie “Forgotten Holiday,” was the lead singer in a rock band before shifting gears into acting, and he resurrected his rocking past during this year’s Hallmark Christmas Cruise.
Daniel Lissing Rocks Out
During the cruise’s Marry Masquerade Party, Lissing made a surprise appearance onstage.
Backed by a full band, the actor sang lead on a cover of Train’s hit “Drops of Jupiter,” revealing that if the acting thing hadn’t worked out, he could always fall back on a career in music.
When Just Jared shared a clip of the performance on Instagram, fans expressed their delight in multiple comments.
“Crushed it! 🔥🔥,” read one comment, while another declared, “I feel like @train would approve of this Hallmark Hunk’s performance! Great job, Daniel Lissing! 🎶🙌”
Another summed it all up by stating, “Daniel has SO much talent as an actor, musician, writer+ producer. Most of all he’s an awesome human, with his family, friends and fans. 🧔♂️👏👏👏”
In a Hallmark Channel video (shared via Dailymotion), Lissing downplayed his musical abilities.
“I can sing a little bit and play guitar a little bit,” he said. “I’m alright. Not great.”
That prompted his wife to declare offscreen, “He’s very good!”
It’s All About Connecting
During an interview with Bunnies TV, Lissing explained how his love of music, acting and writing all sprang from the same creative well.
“I was really blessed growing up … in a close-knit family. One thing that my parents always sort of instilled in my sister and I was that you can fail at what you don’t want to do so you might as well fail at what you do want to do, so find what you’re passionate about and see if you can make a living out of it,” Lissing recalled.
Praising his parents for encouraging him to follow his dreams, he admitted “it kind of takes some time, you know, to figure it out … I got very inspired by certain songs and music, I get inspired by film and television, I get inspired by great stories …”
In fact, storytelling had always been something that interested him. As he explained, telling a story has long been a passion. Whether it was by his work as an actor, or writing a screenplay for a film or television project, or even in the songs that he writes and performs, telling stories was the throughline that connected all these seemingly disparate creative endeavors.
“It’s all about connection,” Lissing said, expounding on the inherent power of storytelling.
“Telling stories to each other, connecting with each other and finding commonality … ” he shared. “I always say, ‘What comes from the heart goes to the heart,’ you know what I mean? And I really truly believe that in my world, with acting, music, writing, it’s about connection and commonality.”
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Daniel Lissing Unleashes His Inner Rock Star with ‘Drops of Jupiter’ Cover on Hallmark Christmas Cruise