(USA TODAY) -- Another Canadian teen drummer is stealing a bit of Justin Bieber's thunder this holiday season with his own hip version of Little Drummer Boy.
High school junior Sean Quigley, 16, of Winnipeg, posted his rock rendition of the famous Christmas song on YouTube three weeks ago, and now the video has gone viral, attracting more than 1.3 million views.
Quigley produced, played the instruments and sang on the track, and directed, starred in and edited the video, which looks professionally done. He's appeared on Canadian news shows, gotten calls from the The Rosie Show, launched his official website and even hired a talent manager after the video hit nearly 40,000 views overnight.
"I called (Sean's) high school to get a hold of him," says Jason MacRay of MacRay Artist Management in Los Angeles, who is working with Quigley (and the minor's parents). "I have labels interested," MacRay says, but Quigley hasn't signed a record deal yet.
Quigley has been drumming since age 4. "My teachers go nuts," he says, because he's constantly tapping his fingers and feet in class. After school, Quigley plays percussion in his school band and church band. "I just wanted to get the message across that there's more to Christmas than trampling people at Walmart," he says. "I didn't really expect (the video) to go anywhere."
The Little Drummer Boy video features Quigley, in shorts and red mittens, playing his drum kit in the snow ("I never wear pants," he says). The video's final shot is of Quigley drumming for his city atop a downtown parking garage. "I had to climb on the roof," he says. "It had to be epic."
Quigley used his Canon Rebel camera, the snowy scenery and tight edits to tell his story, and he enlisted the help of 19-year-old sister Caitlin (who did some camera work) and exchange students from his school (who held up signs with holiday greetings in their native languages).
Though the outdoor-video concept worked well, it wasn't Quigley's original idea. "I was going to shoot in front of a Christmas tree that I set up in my basement," he says. After sleeping on the idea and waking up to a fresh powdering of snow, Quigley changed his mind. "The scenery was beautiful. I took that as a (sign to) go film that."
Now, Quigley is back in his basement recording studio working on another song and video. This time, he's playing an original single, but he won't reveal any other details about the project. "My goal is for it to be 10 times better than the last one," he says.
His long-term goal? "I want to be able to create music as a career and influence people," he says.
Written by Carly Mallenbaum
USA TODAY & usatoday.com