Portsmouth-born busker goes viral by starting Leicester Square conga in London Underground

Wilfy Williams, who grew up in Portsmouth but now lives in London, went viral when a video of him busking in Leicester Square in London – while commuters do the conga – started being shared on Twitter.

At the time of publication, the original video has more than 4m views.

Wilfy, who was born in Portsmouth and went to Neville Lovett School in Fareham, which is now Fareham Academy, said he was simply trying to spread joy to the people around him.

He said: ‘I’ve been busking on the London Underground for a few years now, I got into performing when I was living in Southsea.

‘People on the underground just seem to go crazy for music, you get everyone singing and dancing along together.

‘On this day in particular I had a little group of people gathering around me – I started playing La Bamba and suddenly somebody started doing a conga, so everyone else joined in.

‘Luckily someone was filming it and everything sort of snowballed from there.’

Wilfy was born at St Mary’s Hospital in Milton Road and mastered his craft by busking in Portsmouth.

He enjoyed playing in Commercial Road, Old Portsmouth and even busked in Havant from time to time, but his favourite spot was down in Southsea.

‘A few people might recognise me from being in Palmerston Road,’ he said.

‘I used to go out and busk outside Iceland, it was a brilliant spot with a great crowd.

‘My whole family is from Portsmouth and I’ve never forgotten my roots.’

Going viral, Wilfy said, was simply a matter of time because of the nature of the tube crowds.

He said: ‘People always say that people on the tube are anti-social and don’t talk to anyone.

‘Perhaps that’s the case during rush hour, but later on in the evenings it’s such a lively place to be.

‘Being able to put a smile on other people's faces is an incredible feeling, so I would love to carry on doing it.’