Matthew Perry: Singer Lauren Amour covers Friends theme song on TikTok in tribute to late Chandler Bing actor

A rising pop star who went viral performing on TikTok Live has used the platform to pay tribute to the late actor Matthew Perry.

Chandler Bing actor Perry, aged 54, was found dead at his home in Los Angeles at his home over the weekend. The Los Angeles coroner's office has said that his cause of death is still being determined, with the official ruling being 'deferred'. This means that further investigation will be needed to determine his cause of death.

Since his untimely passing, on Saturday 28 October, there has been an outpouring of grief for the actor from fellow actors and celebrities and also fans. People have been finding their own ways of leaving tributes for Perry, including writing comments on Perry's own TikTok account, where he published a post offering life advice to his fans just hours before his death.

One fan is singer Lauren Amour, who has been selected as one of BBC Introducing tips for 2023. She has found her own way of paying tribute to Perry, who was widely regarded as one of the greatest comedic actors of his generation. Amour has posted a video of her singing a verse of the famous Friends theme song, "I'll Be There For You" by the Rembrandts.

Amour captioned her video, which has been viewed more than 20,000 times at the time of writing, "The one where we lost a friend. RIP Matthew Perry x #friends #matthewperry #rip #chandlerbing". Her caption was inspired by the titles of each of the 236 episodes of the hugely popular sitcom, which all began with the prefix "the one where . . . "

The show, which orginally aired between 1994 and 2004, has won fans from across the generations. Reruns of the show have continued every year since the show ended, and they are said to earn each of the six principle cast members; Perry, Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green), Courteney Cox (Monica Geller/Bing), David Schwimmer (Ross Geller), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay) and Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tibbiani), an annual income of $20m (around £16,497,640) each.

The Rembrandts' song "I'll Be There For You" has become synonymous with the show as it was used as the theme song for it throughout all ten seasons. In fact, it was recorded by the band specifically for the show.

During Amour's video she could be seen sitting at her piano playing the theme music in a poignant slower approach and singing the chorus lyrics in to a mircophone. Those lyrics are: "So no one told you life was gonna be this way, your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's DOA, it's like you're always stuck in second gear. When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year, but I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour. I'll be there for you, like I've been there before, I'll be there for you, cause you're there for me too."

Amour had added a photo of Perry over the top of her video, with the caption "rest in peace Matthew Perry".

Many people praised Amour for her cover, calling it "beautiful". One said: "What a great song, so fun when it’s upbeat and meaningful when slowed down." A fan added: "Wow you have a lovely voice." Another person commented: "I sang this last year in choir and now I feel like it was kinda meant to be. You have a beautiful voice."

Amour, who has more than 380,000 followers on her TikTok page @LaurenAmourMusic, re-wrote the Black Eyed Peas hit song "Where is the Love" for Ukraine, which then went viral. She now regularly performs to via her Tiktok live streams.