Young@Heart bridges the age gap

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. — Fred Knittle wears his belt up high. His nose is tethered to an oxygen tank, and on stage he's confined to a folding chair. From this unlikely perch, he's turning rock 'n' roll on its head.

Singing Coldplay's "Fix You," Knittle transforms the song into a powerful ballad about a grandfather's healing wisdom. It means something different coming from an 80-year-old retiree suffering from congestive heart failure.

Knittle is a singer for the Young@Heart Chorus, whose members range from 73 to 92 years old. Singing songs they shouldn't even know, at an age when they're expected to be sitting quietly somewhere, they subvert all accepted notions of old and young.

Songs by bands like the Radiohead, OutKast and Nirvana take on a new dimension when performed by these 23 foot-stomping senior citizens. "Fix You" or the Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go" become about life and death.

Though little known in America, the Northampton-based Young@Heart has performed from Australia to London, serenaded the king and queen of Norway, been discussed on "The Daily Show" and been documented in an acclaimed film for British television. They're now recording an album tentatively titled "Rockin' At Heaven's Door."

It may sound like a gimmick, but Young@Heart is no karaoke act. They're a cover band for the ages.

"All we've ever had is now."

— Jack Schnepp, 77, singing the Flaming Lips' "All We Have Is Now"

Inside a Young@Heart rehearsal in Northampton, Bob Cilman, 53, is pretending to throw his shoe at Jack Schnepp for missing his cue on Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark."

After a laugh, the shoe returns to Cilman's foot, but more lighthearted threats will surely follow. Whipping his chorus into shape before their spring concert at Dartmouth College is hard work, and Cilman is a taskmaster who refuses to baby his elderly singers.

"I hated Bob when I first came into the chorus," says ex-Marine Steve Martin, 79, whose youthful vigor is only hinted at by the convertible he drives. "He's insane. It took me a while to trust him."

Young@Heart is the brainchild of Cilman, whose generous heart beats with a provocateur spirit. He directs the chorus through unique arrangements of music the singers spent their lives telling their kids and grandkids to "turn down!"

He's been having his baby-boomer revenge for 25 years.