Fred Stobaugh: Widower's love song makes iTunes top 10

A 96-year-old who wrote a song for his late wife has made the US iTunes top 10, alongside Katy Perry and Lady Gaga.

Fred Stobaugh, whose wife Lorraine died in April, has no previous musical experience and wrote the song on a whim for a competition.

He submitted his handwritten lyrics by post and, although the contest was online-only, the organisers were so moved they put the words to music.

Oh Sweet Lorraine is number seven on US iTunes and has 1.9m YouTube views.

Billboard magazine said the song had sold 6,000 copies so far, placing it at number 49 in its rock digital songs sales chart.

The track is also in the iTunes charts for Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Luxembourg.

"Oh sweet Lorraine," the chorus begins, "I wish we could do all the good times over again."

Stobaugh does not perform the song himself - on his original submission, he wrote: "I don't sing, I would scare people, haha!"