The sad celebrity news of this past weekend was the death of Matthew Perry, the actor best known as one of the stars of Friends. His role as Chandler Bing in the ’90s sitcom helped define pop culture for that decade, so plenty of tributes poured out in honor of the late actor, who was 54 years old. Among them was one from Charlie Puth, who delivered a cover of the classic Friends theme song, “I’ll Be There For You” by The Rembrandts.
Puth performed at Melbourne, Australia’s Margaret Court Arena yesterday (October 29), and he played the song on piano, mostly letting the audience do the singing (and the hand claps, too) in a nice communal moment of fun remembrance.
In an interview with The Guardian earlier this year, The Rembrandts’ Danny Wilde spoke about his complicated relationship with the song, saying, “Once people realized it was us, it killed our cool vibe. We went from doing cool clubs to matinee shows where parents would bring their kids. The song became an albatross ’round our necks and broke up the band for a few years. […] Every time it gets played, there’s a little ‘ker-ching!.’ It’s only a nickel or whatever, but they add up. It put my kids through college and got me a beautiful home. I’m not rich but I’m comfortable. We were snobby about it early on and it messed with our heads. But what a gift it’s been. I might be living on the streets if it wasn’t for that song.”
Check out Puth’s performance above.
Charlie Puth is a Warner Music artist. .
