Meowsic To Nora's Ears

Most musical divas are eccentric. Nora, a pianist, is no exception. She only plays when she feels like it and sometimes even gets inside the piano.

How does she get away with it? By purring and nuzzling her owner - for Nora is no ordinary musician, but a six-year old kitty-cat with a natural musical talent.

Nora's 'musical' career began when she was one and a half years old. Adopted by her owners from a rescue shelter in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, the kitty had a hard time getting along with the other five household cats. Instead, she found solace on her owner, Betsy Alexander's baby grand piano.

And, she had a good teacher - For Betsy is a music composer and piano teacher, who always had students at the house. The little kitty was obviously paying a lot of attention, for one day she suddenly started to hit the keys with her paw.

When Betsy and her partner Burnell, heard the music, they ran down to see who was playing - only to discover little Nora pawing away at the keyboard. Astonished, but quite pleased at this 'raw' talent, they encouraged her, and soon Nora was on her way to stardom.

Persuaded by her students, Betsy filmed Nora playing the piano and posted the video on YouTube, where it has garnered over 6 million views! It also caught the attention of American music artist Billy Joel, who sent Nora sheet music and an autographed picture. Nora returned the favor by sending him a "paw"tograph.

Now, at age 6, Nora is a veteran pianist, and about to become an even bigger star - For starting tomorrow (August 19th) a television crew from NBC's Today show, will be setting up a live feed from Nora's home and piano - so that she can play 'live' in front of the entire world - Of course that will happen only if the diva feels up to it . . . . . . purrrrrr!

To learn more about this amazing cat and read her daily 'meowings' check out her site NoraWeb/nora_news.

sources:usatoday.com,wikipedia.org., http://www.ravenswingstudio.com/NoraWeb/nora_news/