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ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) -- A Washington County man said he has received confirmation that his 49.5 hours of continuous singing this summer was a new record and will be in the 2005 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records is released.
Ace Anderson sang for 49.5 hours from June 27 to June 29 at a performance at the Washington County Fair Grounds.
The previous Guinness record was 24 hours and 4 minutes, set in 2002 by Cliff Lath of the United Kingdom.
Anderson said that for a year, he sang three to five hours a day to prepare for the lengthy performance.
During the performance, Anderson sang more than 500 songs, ranging from the Rolling Stones to Olivia Newton John. He said the most difficult part of the singing was enduring the early morning hours on Saturday and Sunday when he felt the exhaustion of a night without sleep.
"Saturday morning between 7:30 and 11, I was so sleepy and so tired," he said. "My stomach was hurting, it felt like a nauseating stomachache."
The morning of the third day, Anderson had to move around and do squats to stay awake. At one point he began nodding off.
"My $400 microphone started falling toward the floor. When I felt my hand fall, I instantly woke up and picked my hand back up," he said.
In keeping with Guinness rules, Anderson was allowed one 15-minute break every four hours.
He tried to break his own record in August in the courtyard of Zions Bank but his vocal chords were not fully healed.
"I waited two months until my voice felt strong again. I wanted to go up to 60 hours," he said, but after 15 hours, he was in severe pain. He hopes his voice will return to full capacity in six months so he can try again.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
