Keenan Cahill, a popular YouTube creator who made lip-sync videos with celebrities like 50 Cent, Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and more, died on Dec. 29 after open-heart surgery on Dec. 15. He was 27.
“Keenan is an inspiration and let’s celebrate by remembering all the content he created, artists he collaborated with, music he produced and the love he had for everyone who supported him over the years,” his official Facebook account posted on Friday, adding that his family has set up a GoFundMe account to help cover funeral costs.
Cahill had Maroteaux–Lamy syndrome, which can cause heart disease and physical limitations similar to dwarfism. Diagnosed at age 1, he had a bone marrow transplant in 1997 and several other surgeries throughout the years to help treat the genetic disease.
On his YouTube account, which has roughly 721,000 subscribers, Cahill’s videos have garnered more than 500 million views. He posted his first lip-sync video in August 2010 to Perry’s “Teenage Dream,” which has reached 58 million views. A year later, the pop star met up with Cahill in person and they filmed a video together.
Cahill’s most popular video was with 50 Cent, where they lip-synced “Down on Me,” to the tune of 60 million total views. He also collaborated with artists like Jason Derulo, David Guetta, LMFAO, Lil Jon, Sean Kingston, Pauly D and Andy Grammer. His videos were some of the early, widely shared hits from YouTube’s first few years, long before apps like Instagram, Vine or TikTok made viral videos a common part of social media. He also released two EPs and four singles on iTunes in the 2010s.