British acts sing for tower
Music producer and TV personality Simon Cowell released a charity single, a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water.
Over 50 musicians were involved in the single meant to raise money to support the victims’ families and survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire last June 14, which claimed the lives of at least 79 people with hundreds more left homeless.
“You kind of think, what can I do? Do you donate some money and I was thinking, well maybe we could do a little more than that and that’s how the record came about,” Cowell told The Mirror.
So Cowell called Rita Ora, Robbie Williams, Craig David, Leona Lewis, James Blunt, Bastille, One Direction’s Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson and dozens of others to remake the classic song. Stormzy added his own lyrics through a rap at the start of the record.
Other international artists in the song are Geri Halliwell, Jessie J and Nathan Sykes. The song also featured Gareth Malone & The Choir for Grenfell.
The video shows some scenes from the Grenfell Tower aftermath with families crying while awaiting news of their relatives living in the tower. It also shows sobbing firefighters who couldn’t save the people trapped in the fire.
The video, according to The Sun, reached number one in 14 countries within hours of its release.
“I’m just proud to be part of it,” Stormzy said of the record, where he was prominently featured along with Ora, who was among the first celebrities who helped out survivors.
The 26-year-old, who is from London and grew up near Grenfell Tower, said she cried while recording her vocals.
"It's a very touchy subject for me because that's my neighborhood... I played in that block and my friends who grew up in that block who still lived in that block that we still can't find—It's a tragedy," she said in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday. "It was hard for me to even sing it."