A Delaware musician is striking a chord with millions online. What started as a way to pass time turned into a viral sensation thanks to a lonely piano, a cellphone and the power of TikTok.

In between the sizzling sounds from the kitchen and the cash register at the front counter, the sound of a piano plays inside a Chinese restaurant called New #1 Chinese Food in Newark, Delaware.

The musician behind the keys is 32-year-old Juan Z. Leonard, who goes by the artist name ZEEK.

"I think music is about expressing your feelings," Zeek said. "So, sometimes if you're mad, you're happy, if you're sad, if you want to dance. I try to encompass all of that into one."

The family-owned business has become his makeshift studio after he picked up a food delivery order nearly two years ago.

"I was DoorDashing and doing Uber Eats," Zeek said. "The owner let me know it's going to take about 10 minutes for me to get the food. So, I just hopped on the piano one day and started playing, and she liked how I played. So, I asked her 'Hey, do you mind if I come in every now and then and just play the piano?' She said 'sure.'"

The piano belonged to the owner's daughter, but sat untouched for years.

"Her daughter stopped playing the piano," Zeek said. "So, she just kept it here and years later I've discovered it."

Eventually, he shared his sound and the unlikely setting on social media and the videos took off, amassing millions of views.

"For it to reach not only in this area, but across the globe," Zeek said. "It's reached major industry artists, major label artists. They're actually talking about coming through. So, it's been amazing."

Soon the impromptu music sessions grew and captured the attention of customers too. ZEEK then started inviting some of his friends who brought in more studio equipment and instruments.

"The owner actually asked us to bring speakers," Zeek said. "So, over time we just kept doing the content, kept bringing in more and more things, up to the point where we recently just had a jam session and it had 30 to 40 people in here."

The jam session filled the entire restaurant with a meld of remixed songs, off-the-cuff music and dancing. 

"I want to be able to show people from my hometown, my home state, that it's possible to do pretty much whatever you want to do," ZEEK said. "No matter if you have to go into a studio in Philadelphia or if you have to find a random piano in a random Chinese restaurant."

No stage, no spotlight. It was just a chance encounter with a forgotten piano reminding us that the most powerful performances happen when you least expect them.