More than 300 residents of the area surrounding the ill-fated Grunfell Towers sang the choral verse conducted by choirmaster and TV presenter Gareth Malone.
Recorded under the name Artists for Grenfell, the single had by last Friday been downloaded 120,000 times, just two days after its official release and gone straight to number one on the UK charts.
All proceeds from the sale of the song will benefit the families affected by the disaster through the London Community Foundation.
Sarm Studios is just half a mile from the Grenfell Tower in West London where 79 people died in a fire in the early hours of June 14.
Four days after that catastrophe, some of the UK’s biggest music stars gathered at this studio to record a special song to support the families of the victims of the fire.
“Bridge Over Troubled Water” is a song first recorded in 1970 by Simon and Garfunkel, as in Paul Simon and Arthur (Art) Garfunkel.
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The lyrics are a powerful paean to overcoming adversity with strength and determination.
Written with a slow start that builds up to a choral crescendo, this beautiful masterpiece is regarded as the signature song by the legendary duo.
Many music fans in Kenya will recognise the song, having grown up listening to it play on classic radio shows like KBC’s Sundowner. Among the artists who have recorded many versions of the same song in the last 40 years include Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin.
It is this song that is now being introduced to a whole new generation, albeit in the aftermath of the London fire tragedy.
50 British
Simon Cowell, the brains behind popular TV talent formats like Pop Idol and Britain’s Got Talent, brought together 50 British music stars including Leona Lewis, Robbie Williams, Liam Payne, Jessie J and rapper Stormzy to record the charity single.
Other singers involved are Craig David, Emeli Sande, and James Blunt. Veteran musicians Nile Rodgers, Brian May and Peter Townsend played guitar while Tokio Myers, the winner of the 2017 Britain’s Got Talent, is on piano.
More than 300 residents of the area surrounding the ill-fated Grunfell Towers sang the choral verse conducted by choirmaster and TV presenter Gareth Malone.
Recorded under the name Artists for Grenfell, the single had by last Friday been downloaded 120,000 times, just two days after its official release and gone straight to number one on the UK charts.
All proceeds from the sale of the song will benefit the families affected by the disaster through the London Community Foundation.
An accompanying video, that combines footage from the devastation along with shots of the artists singing their parts in the studio had been watched more than 2.7 million times by Monday this week.
Some of the stars have a very personal connection to the events in Grunfell. Cowell himself lives quite close to area and says he was moved to organise the recording after witnessing the horrific scenes at the tower.
Singer Rita Ora grew up in that neighbourhood and played an active role in the relief efforts by the community in the days after the fire.
Global music star Adele, who is also a Londoner, may not have been part of the recording, but she paid a surprise visit with ‘tea and hugs’ for the firefighters who had spent days battling the flames in Grunfell. She had also visited the scene of the inferno and attended a vigil held for the victims and survivors. Cowell said that the choice of the song was because the “lyrics were appropriate for the support the musicians wanted to send out to the victims.”
In fact, “Bridge over troubled water” has been performed at other times of tragedy and unrest. In 2010, Mary J Blige, David Foster and Andrea Bocelli performed the song at the Grammy Awards to raise awareness for the victims of the Haiti earthquake.
John Legend performed the song in 2014 during race tensions in the US after unarmed black teenager Michael Brown was shot dead by a police officer.
It was also a UK Christmas number one single in in 2015 when it was released as a charity song under the title “A Bridge Over You” a mash up with Coldplay’s track “Fix You” performed by the two London choirs, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir.
In 2010, Cowell brought together artists like Mariah Carey, Rod Stewart, Kylie Minogue and Michael Buble to record the charity single “Love Hurts” for the victims of the Haiti earthquake.
This time the tragedy has hit rather close to home for the music mogul and as he said on TV just after the recording of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” he hopes the song will ‘spark a nerve’ in everyone who hears it to show support to the London fire victims.
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