Singing American football player wows teammates with Bocelli’s ‘Time to Say Goodbye’

23 September 2022, 17:34 | Updated: 23 September 2022, 17:35

Duke University’s offensive lineman, Chance Lytle, stunned his fellow footballers with a rousing rendition of a beloved Italian song.

24-year-old Chance Lytle is a new student at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, where he is studying for a masters in management.

Lytle was drafted into the North Carolina university’s football team for the current school year, having previously played in 30 career games at his former college, University of Colorado.

Prior to arriving at Duke however, Lytle studied a dual undergraduate degree in music & voice performance and psychology, and decided to share his talents with his new teammates, which was captured in a now viral TikTok video.

The American Footballer was filmed singing an Italian song, made famous by Andrea Bocelli, Con Te Partirò (‘Time to Say Goodbye’), at Duke’s ‘fall football camp’ (a getting-to-know-each-other event for the new team) during an evening meal.

The reaction from his teammates is glorious, and says all you need to know about their views on a star soloist joining the squad. Watch below.

Read more: Baby has priceless reaction to hearing operatic mum sing for the first time

Duke Football team go wild for team member's opera voice

The Duke Football TikTok account shared the video captioning that Lytle had the “Voice of an angel”.

Commenters were not only impressed by the footballer’s vocals, but by the team’s joy at their newest recruit’s talent.

“This is the kind of supportive masculinity we love to see!!”, one user commented, while another noted, “nothing makes me happier than bros hyping up their bros”.

It’s clear Lytle has a promising career on the football field, but also on the opera house stage. He has previously appeared in productions such as Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Sondheim’s, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Read more: How the marching band became a staple of American music education

Vi ravviso, o luoghi ameni (Bellini) - Chance Lytle

Lytle, was originally a violinist, but as he grew (to the 6 foot 7” footballer he is today), he switched to cello. After a shoulder injury stopped him from playing either instrument, Lytle tried his hand at singing and found he had a “natural talent” for it.

Whilst Lytle is still focused on a football career for now, in the long term, he says the goal is to make singing his “entire living”.

And when it comes to splitting his practice time between field and opera stage, Lytle previously told the University of Colorado’s media team, “Both [music and football] require unbelievable amounts of practice.

“That’s something that thankfully crosses over. That work ethic carries through to all aspects of my life.

“The way I try to approach it is to put as much into music as I put into football, and vice versa.”