MELBOURNE, Fla. – Paul Barton may be 87 years old, but that doesn’t stop him from enjoying one of his passions on the regular-- performing for local seniors at facilities around Brevard County.
Barton is no stranger to serving. The U.S. Air Force veteran was born in Harlan County, KY. Barton said he grew up in a coal mining town, the son of a coal miner’s daughter. After graduating from school, he worked for a bit in Detroit, before joining the Air Force at the age of 19. Barton said he served for 27 years, retiring as a Senior Master Sergeant.
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So where did his love for music and performing come into play? Barton said he wasn’t always a singer.
“I sang a little bit when I was young. But I would do it listening to Frank Sinatra and Joni James and a lot of the singers that were there,” said Barton. “I never really got into country music and until later in life. I didn’t sing when I was in the Air Force. I didn’t sing when I went back to work for the government after I retired. But then in about 1996, my first karaoke, a friend of mine and I went to a bar here in Melbourne just to have drinks together. And they were having karaoke that night. And he kept telling me, ‘Get up and sing a song, get up and sing a song.’ I was thinking, ‘I’m not sure I can do this.’ And I sang the song ‘Just Once’ by James Ingram, and the crowd went wild. They said, ‘Don’t leave, you can stay and you can really sing.’ And I said, ‘Okay’, so that was the start.”
The very start of more than 20 years performing up and down the Space Coast, starting with Joe’s Club Adult Day Care in Melbourne.
“In 2002, my mother who lived in Corbin, KY, I brought her to Florida because she had started developing Alzheimer’s. So Joe’s Club was right down the street from where I live now in Florida. So I took her there for about four hours a day, three times a week,” said Barton. “And then one day I asked Joe’s Club, ‘What can I do around here to help you?’ and they said, ‘What can you do?’ And I said, ‘Well, I basically can just sing.’ And they said, ‘How about coming and singing?’ So a friend of mine, Lenny King, who is also an Air Force veteran, put together a show and we started doing this in 2003 and I’ve been performing since then.”
It wasn’t long before Barton became something of a local sensation. He got phone calls from Aging Matters, a senior services agency in Brevard County, and began singing at luncheons there. At the height of his performing, he was singing at about 12 different locations every month, all kinds of shows and he’s even performed at birthday parties, weddings, anniversaries, funerals. He’s even sung with Sally Hart.
“Whenever they want me, I’m there for them,” said Barton.
That’s why the VFW is honoring Barton as part of their #StillServing initiative. It’s a way to showcase and honor the ongoing commitment and service of the nation’s best and brightest. Serving, as shown through a collection of veterans’ stories through the campaign, can be anything from continuing to serve their communities as firefighters to becoming County Veteran Service Officers to assist other veterans to working local food pantries, to bringing smiles and music to seniors’ lives, like Barton.
“Just to watch the members that were in the caregiving clubs and luncheons, that they really enjoyed the music. For one thing, the smiles on their face was something I just enjoyed very much,” said Barton. “It makes my heart feel good. When I do this and they get up and dance and smile and have a good time, I walk out of the places just feeling good about myself because I’m doing something to give back. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to do it but I’m in good health right now. And my voice is held up all these years. I don’t know how it’s done it but it has.”
So what’s Barton’s favorite song to sing?
“‘My Girl’ is one of my most requested songs, " said Barton. “Also ‘Hurt’ by Timi Yuro and ‘Me and Mrs. Jones’. They always want me to sing that. But I branch out a little bit. And I’ve started, I’ve recorded a CD, actually three of them.”
One thing is for certain; Barton may have slowed down to just about five appearances a month, but he has no plans of stopping performing anytime soon. He still performs at Joe’s Club on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at 1 p.m. and heads to the VFW 8191 post for Thursday karaoke, and you may catch him crooning at other spots around town from time to time.
“I’m 87 years old and I still love singing and performing in front of people and and it keeps me going,” said Barton. “You got to keep active when you get older and it makes my day sometimes, I just hate to give it up. I’ll do it as long as I can. I think I will as long as I can keep saying I’m healthy.”
