He sang to millions on YouTube. He died on the streets of Edmonton | CBC News

By morning, it had more than a million views.

“Jesse was shell-shocked,” said his friend, Loryn Reinelt. “Who knows what to do in a situation like that?”

It was 2014. Things started to move fast, and a month later Jesse was featured on an episode of Trailer Park Boys.

“We were really happy for him,” said his mom, Michelle Stewart. “We knew he was talented.”

Last month, Jesse Stewart, 31, died on the streets of Edmonton. It was likely a drug overdose, his mother said.

By the time of his death, Cold Beer had reached almost 14 million views on YouTube. 

The life of Jesse Stewart

Michelle said that in elementary school, teachers noticed that her son was intelligent for his age. By Grade 5, he was already attending a high school computer class.

Jesse was drawn to music early on, and his grandfather paid for private guitar lessons.

He later became obsessed with the Sex Pistols, Michelle said. Inspired by the band’s bassist, Sid Vicious, Jesse wore a lock around his neck, tossing away the key. For years, the bolt remained, until it eventually disintegrated.

After Jesse left home, he travelled widely with his dog, Arlo. The two hitchhiked across Canada — twice — sometimes even jumping onto passing freight trains.

“He didn’t want to live a boring life, like going to a 9-to-5 job,” Michelle said.

Arlo would regularly come on the stage during shows, and Jesse even wrote a song about her.

“Not only did Arlo keep him physically warm when he was out on the streets, but she kept his heart from freezing over,” said his friend, Reinelt. 

His music

While Cold Beer is a cover, Jesse made it his own. The original, called Cry Tunes by Donnie Dumphy, is a humorous song about someone choosing beer over their girlfriend. Jesse’s is about a battle with alcoholism.

“He completely transformed it to his own,” Reinelt said.

Judging by the thousands of comments beneath his videos, his music touched many. Some wrote that Jesse inspired them to drive across the country, follow a dream or even stop suicide attempts.

As his fan base grew, Jesse was able to survive from advertising revenues on YouTube. However, fame came at a cost.

“He became famous for playing a song about drinking beer, and I think that became part of his identity,” Reinelt said.

Jesse started to struggle with drugs and alcohol, eventually landing in jail for a couple weeks. Before Michelle could finish plans to bring her son home to Vancouver Island, Jesse was released unexpectedly.

“I lost touch with him. And then a week later, I found out that he had passed.”

Before going to jail, Jesse left his dog with someone, but after his death, Arlo went missing.

Searching for Arlo

His family flew to Edmonton and put up 150 missing posters, offering a $1,000 reward and even hiring a private investigator to find Jesse’s dog. They drove through alleys and walked along street after street, searching for a black and tan Rottweiler Doberman mix.

“She is a connection to Jesse, but it’s more than that,” Michelle said in an interview on CBC Edmonton’s Radio Active.

“She deserves a good home where she can live out her days and be comfortable.”

Weeks went by and there was little news. Michelle began to think Arlo was gone for good.

But after some careful internet sleuthing, Jesse’s family was eventually able to track down the beloved dog. The person who had the dog, who lives outside Edmonton, had no idea Arlo belonged to someone else.

Soon, Arlo will fly home and live with Michelle.

“It doesn’t fix everything,” she said.

“But now we can kind of focus on what we need to focus on and try to start healing.”