SIDNEY, Iowa (KMTV) — Three-year-old Remi Steinert appears to be the youngest musician to ever play at the Grand Ole Opry. It's an extraordinary milestone for the toddler who was born with a congenital heart defect.
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Remi, at home in Sidney, with his parents Jessica and Alec showed off his drumming skills to KMTV. The Air Force family moved to the area a couple of years ago when Alec was transferred to Offutt Air Force Base.
"And then we moved here and we started noticing he's really picking up beats, like he can do this," Jessica said.
Jessica suspects she might have set the stage for Remi's musical talents very early by playing Elvis Presley's music to him while she was expecting.
Right after delivery, Louisiana doctors discovered Remi's heart defect, and within hours, the newborn and his father wound up flying on a medical jet to Dallas.
"There's like 15 doctors all hooking him up to everything," Alec said.
"Alone in Dallas with his newborn baby and didn't know what was going on, so he constantly played Elvis for him," Jessica said.
The King's music played for five months while waiting for the baby's open heart surgery in Dallas.
"He became known as the 'Elvis Baby' because the only thing that would calm him down was, especially, it was 'Burning Love' by Elvis Presley," Jessica said.
Now, with hundreds of thousands of social media followers, his parents say his heart beats to its own drum.
After winning a contest, Remi was selected to perform "Little Drummer Boy" with the group For King + Country at the Opry last month.
"Words cannot describe that moment," Alec said.
"To see him on stage just thriving and just living his best little life. He has no idea, you know, what he's been through," Jessica said.
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