Former Bermuda resident Paul Luftenegger, who uses music to inspire kindness in others, is a finalist in a large online songwriting competition.

Mr Luftenegger, formerly worked at Arnold’s Supermarket but now lives in Canada with his Bermudian husband, Cori Brown.

After leaving Bermuda he took up song writing full time and has produced three albums, the third Diamond Light will be released in January.

Meanwhile his song from that album, also called Diamond Light has been selected for the USA Songwriting Competition, open to songwriters from around the world. Voting for the competition ended yesterday. He was a finalist in the gospel/inspirational category.

“It is an online competition,” said Mr Luftenegger. “My song has been selected out of tens of thousands of songs to take part.”

His aim as a singer and song writer is to inspire “global kindness”.

“It is lovely to see that in the music world as I don’t think it has been done a lot,” he said. “My song Diamond Light is all about the inside world of being kind to yourself and being kind to others. This is the concept of the song and the words are reflective.”

When he is not writing music, Mr Luftenegger volunteers with a suicide awareness group.

“My father took his life in 2011,” he said. “At that time I did a life review and it changed everything. I am now working in service to others. I work with many non profit charities around the world with my music. I work with the Canadian Mental Health Association as a guest speaker volunteering my time and services.”

Through his work he tries to create “kind moments from the heart”.

One of his songs It’s Only Love was dedicated to an gay eighth grader in Toronto, Canada who was violently assaulted by four classmates because of his sexual orientation.

“Many times the media is not always positive,” he said. “I wanted to create kind moments using the media. I want people to have compassion for each other.”

After his It’s Only Love was released Oprah’s O Magazine sent him a personal letter to thank him for writing the song.

“Oprah is one of my heroes,” he said.

He will be starting a concert series in London, Ontario, Canada on January 14.

His music is available on iTunes. Listen to Diamond Light on Mr Luftenegger’s website and learn more about the competition itself on Facebook under USA Songwriting Competition.