” Of course not. It’s the heartwarming human interest story people are reacting to, not his vocal production.”
My reaction of tears on first hearing him sing seems to be near universal. Given that very few of us knew his human interest story before hearing him sing, I can’t agree that we were reacting to something we didn’t know.
That's fine. Buy his CD, go to his concerts, and cry away. My point is he is being made more than he really is.