Landau Eugene Murphy Jr., talks education and sings National Anthem at men's game
Jan. 28—As he strode to center court at the WVU Coliseum on Saturday, Landau Eugene Murphy Jr., looked right at home.
He was — and not just because he's used to performing to packed houses from Beckley to Beijing. Turns out, he had some moves on the court, too.
We'll get to that.
Meanwhile, Murphy, the former car-detailer from Logan who won the big prize on "America's Got Talent " in 2011, was there to sing the National Anthem before tipoff of the Mountaineer men's contest with Auburn.
The singer's appearance was sponsored by the West Virginia Department of Education. He joined the team when he earned his high school equivalency diploma through the department's Office of Adult Education.
A GED achievement still looms large in the state and on the campus of WVU, he said, where many students are the first in their families to go to college.
Visit WVAdultEd.com to learn more about the free program and other offerings.
Just like the circular confines of the Coliseum, Murphy said his academic milestone was part of his full-circle journey, since becoming a star when he was pushing the age of 40.
It was at the height of the pandemic in 2020, where, with his exhaustive touring schedule on hold indefinitely, that he decided to hunker down.
"I wasn't satisfied knowing I had not earned my diploma, " he said.
"It was something that was always on my mind, and something I knew I had to do."
Viewers of "America's Got Talent " couldn't get Murphy off their collective mind 12 years ago when he emerged from the ether to channel Frank Sinatra and other purveyors of the Great American Songbook.
He didn't just have the vocal chops. He had a compelling visual too: A lanky Black man, sporting dreadlocks.
"That was my 'wow, '" he said. "People weren't expecting that music coming from someone who looks like me."
They weren't expecting it on the asphalt courts in the Motor City, either.
He ended up in Detroit for a time after his parents' divorce. There, he dropped out of high school and found out he couldn't make enough to support himself in menial jobs.
Many of his friends there ended up in jail or dead.
He would escape to basketball and pickup games, where the hick from the sticks was just as good as anyone else. Better, even.
And everyone thought his Sinatra impression was hilarious.
Murphy made his acquaintance with the Rat Pack crooner by way of "Love and Marriage, " the Sinatra standard that served as the theme song to the raunchy sitcom, "Married with Children."
Instead of trash-talking on the court, he'd let the Chairman of the Board do the cheering. He would sing.
With gossamer wings, he'd light over a guy's head to loft a sweet, arcing jumper — and whispered whoosh of the ball through the net would be followed by, "Fly Me to the Moon."
"The thug would hear that and bust up laughing, " Murphy said.
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