Dad's song remixes get baby eating and world watching (VIDEO)

His video of "Jell-O," to the tune of Lionel Richie's "Hello," has drawn more than 100,000 page views Watch video

Charles Flartey and his son, Tommy. (Courtesy of Charles Flartey)  

HOPATCONG -- A Hopatcong father has gone viral with his YouTube videos in which he sings to his one-year-old son about food.

Charles Flartey, who has "sung in a few bands" and recorded "some hip-hop stuff," said he "sings to his son no matter what we're doing," and his son enjoys the tunes. So Flartey then decided to use the singing to get him to eat.

"It started as a little joke," Flartey said.

He posted some videos on Facebook, and friends liked it so much they suggested he make a YouTube channel, known as "Charles Only."

"After that, it took off like crazy," Flartey said in an interview Monday. A Reddit post of his original video, "Jell-O," sung to the Lionel Richie tune, "Hello," was key in spreading the word, Flartey said.

On Sunday night, Flartey posted on his Facebook page that his original video -- "Jell-O," to the tune of Lionel Richie's "Hello" -- had achieved 100,000 page views.

In the meantime, Flartey and his videos have been featured on the television programs "Today," "Good Morning America" and "Inside Edition."

Flartey has posted six videos "so far," also singing his food-related songs to tunes popularized by other artists including Gwen Stefani, R. Kelly, the group 112, the Temptations and Wu-Tang Clan.

Flartey, who works during the evening as a bartender at the Corner Pub in the Flanders section of Mount Olive, stays home with his son during the day. He said his fellow employees and patrons at the pub are aware of his musical endeavors and his boss is hopeful he many do another video wearing a Corner Pub T-shirt.

Flartey said he expects to record and to post some more videos, although he's not sure what he'll post and when.

But at this point, Flartey said, the fame and glory has come so quickly he's not quite sure what hit him.

"I'm still trying to figure out what to make of it, but it's been fun," he said. "You can get attention for worse things.

Flartey said he finds it startling that "I've been making music for 15 years, and this is the thing that gets attention."

But, he added, even if his videos hadn't attracted so much attention, "I would have done them anyway, just for fun, but people seem to enjoy them."

And his first fan was Tommy, his one-year-old son.

"He loves it, that's why I kept doing it," Flartey said.

Ben Horowitz may be reached at bhorowitz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @HorowitzBen. Find NJ.com on Facebook.