Langley musician Gino Gerussi has a brief encounter with a no-nonsense construction foreman at the beginning of his music video.

鈥淗ey Gino, I heard you can sing,鈥� says the foreman, whose hard hat is labelled 鈥渢he boss.鈥�

鈥淵ou heard wrong,鈥� Gino replies. His hard hat is labelled 鈥渃areer labourer.鈥�

鈥淒on鈥檛 quit your day job, then,鈥� the foreman says as he walks away.

Gino goes back to shovelling gravel.

Cue the music.

As Gerussi, still in his hard hat, work jacket and gloves, croons 鈥淛ust In Love With A Girl鈥� over a jazzy mix of horn, piano and drum, his co-workers form up a dance line and deliver some Vegas-style kicks.

It ends with a hint that it may have all been a dream, when the dozing Gerussi is jolted awake by the foreman who warns him about sleeping on the job and tells him to get back to work.

The music video has generated thousands of hits on social media as 鈥淐onstruction Guy Can Actually Sing鈥� since it was first posted.

And yes, Gerussi is an actual construction worker, and those are his foreman and co-workers.

It is his real voice, and he co-wrote the song with jazz legend Miles Black.

Gerussi, a single dad who lives in Brookswood, wasn鈥檛 getting much work as a musician during the pandemic, so he returned to construction, something he did as a day job in his 20s, to help pay the bills.

鈥淐OVID hits, I can鈥檛 play music,鈥� he summarized.

鈥淚鈥檓 a single dad of two full-time, so I鈥檝e got to make the best of it.鈥�

He ended up working for Jacob Bros. Construction, at their job site at Coquitlam city hall.

After awhile, his coworkers learned that Gerussi was a singer, and when an aspiring video producer named Rayden Wickop found out about it, Wickop had an idea 鈥� why not do a music video, on the construction site?

When he heard about it, Gerussi thought it would be an enjoyable experience, even if the video didn鈥檛 turn out, so he said yes.

鈥淚t was a lark,鈥� Gerussi recalled.

鈥淚t was just to have fun.鈥�

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With the video鈥檚 success, Gerussi has been getting all kinds of welcome attention, with media outlets on both sides of the border reaching out to tell his story. His songs are moving up the charts once again.

鈥淧eople are coming to the site to take pictures of me,鈥� Gerussi laughed.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been incredible.鈥�

He has just released a second video made with Wickop, 鈥溾�� that uses Vancouver鈥檚 Gastown as a backdrop, and there are plans to do some more construction-related videos as well.

What was a detour may have turned out to be a boost for his career, and he is delighted and grateful.

鈥淣ever give up on your dreams,鈥� he told the Langley Advance Times.

鈥淵ou hear it a million times, but never give up.鈥�

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His website, notes that Gerussi has been immersed in music for nearly four decades.

He started playing drums when he was five, and started taking opera lessons at 12.

His uncle was iconic actor Bruno Gerussi, who starred in the CBC-TV series The Beachcombers, the longest-running dramatic series ever made for Canadian television.