x
Breaking News
More () »

Opposites attract over shared love of music, spend 21 years rockin’ and lovin’

She's white. He's black. She's 85. He's 65. She was married for 43 years and has kids. He was a bachelor before he met her. But their shared love of music has turned into a love for each other.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Walk into the Showtime Lounge on any Sunday and you're sure to find a rockin' good time.

"Granny and the Boys" is there filling the room with their groovy funk music.

The band is made up of five members: the lead singer, backup singer, guitarist, drummer and, most-noteworthy, the pianist.

Alice Donahue, 84, i.e. Granny of Granny and the Boys is hard to miss on the keys. A white grandmother, she jams right alongside the boys, a group of black, mostly middle-aged men.

But what most onlookers don’t know is Granny is madly in love with the drummer, Richard Lynch.

And he’s crazy about her too.

The two credit their shared passion of music for bringing them together.

“It was at [The University of Maryland] and she was the only older white person that was in the cafeteria,” Richard recalled. “I was looking at her and I said, ‘God she’s so pretty. I would like to meet her.’”

As he was finishing his first album, Richard made ends meet by working at the University of Maryland's Roy Rogers restaurant and tutoring music students at the school. He continually noticed Alice, but wasn’t sure how to introduce himself.

“I saw her with a music book and that gave me my cue,” Richard said. “I just snatched the book out of her hand and said, ‘Oh I see you’re reading a music book,’ and that’s how we met.”

Alice had returned to school after her husband of 43 years passed away from a lung disease.

“I’m glad I did because I never would have met this character if it hadn’t been for that,” Alice said, laughing and squeezing Richard’s hand.

Alice and Richard became fast friends.

“The funniest part was it wasn’t too long after I met Richard that he asked me to manage his band,” Alice remembered.

In less than a year, Alice wasn’t just managing but playing.

“Our keyboard player had gotten in some legal trouble and had to leave the band and we had a show in two and a half weeks,” Richard recalled. “I asked if she played as well as she said she did. And then I said, ‘Okay it’s yours. Take it.’”

Fast forward two decades later, the two are still playing together in the band.

“I wouldn’t be playing if I wasn’t playing with her,” Richard said.

From their love of music, grew a love for one another.

“If you judge our different circumstances, no one under God’s green earth would think Richard would be attracted to Alice or Alice would be attracted to Richard or we’d be playing together or doing any of that,” Alice said. “I don’t think anybody understands me the way Richard does.”

In addition to their different backgrounds and races, Alice is Richard’s senior by 20 years.

“Her being older and me being black, that surprises [people],” Richard said.

To Alice and Richard, their shared love is what brings them together.

“Something happens to you inside, in your heart and soul when you love another person like this… and it’s like if something happens to him, it happens to me,” Alice said. “If he’s hurt, I pain more – it’s oneness. Total oneness.”

The two have been dating 21 years. Today, Alice is 85 and Richard is 65.

“I’m just going to spend the rest of my life with her doing with I’m doing… as long as I can do it with her,” Richard said. “As long as God allows her to be here, because let’s say he takes her away. I can’t argue with the man because he has allowed me to be with her 21 years,” Richard said. “Those 21 years, musically, it’s been up and down (but) relationship-wise hasn’t been up and down, it’s been up. Constantly.”

Before You Leave, Check This Out