Don’t picture little Billy Gilman any more. The kid is 15 now, with a voice that took two years to change and a new CD out.
His new release is “Music Through Heartsongs,” an album of songs that are the poems of 12-year-old Mattie J.T. Stepanek.
Stepanek battles a rare form of muscular dystrophy, a disease that took the lives of his three siblings and left him dependent on a ventilator that feeds oxygen through a tube attached to his neck.
But he has sold more than 1.5 million copies of his inspirational books and has countless admirers including Oprah Winfrey and former President Jimmy Carter.
Gilman tells CMT.com that his two secret dreams include being on the TV show “Fear Factor,” even if he has to eat a bug.
Gilman’s “Music Through Heartsongs” is in stores now.