Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Captain Sir Tom changed my life
Michael Ball on why he has to sing for his hero
MICHAEL Ball hopes to perform at a memorial service for Capt Sir Tom Moore, the man he says changed his life.
The singer, who had his first No1 after teaming up with the 100-yearold for a charity version of You’ll Never Walk Alone, is in touch with the family about a tribute.
He said: “We are planning, hopefully, a proper sort of memorial.
“He gave me a No1, which was pretty cool, and he gave us all a bit of hope when we were lost and scared.”
Michael, set to release a new album, We Are More Than One, said he learned “so, so much” from working with Capt Tom.
He added:
“That man’s dignity, humility, kindness and sense of duty made us look like wusses.” The Second World War veteran won the nation’s heart in lockdown by raising more than £30million for the NHS by trekking with his walking frame around the garden of his home in Marston Moretaine, Beds. He was knighted last May and died with Covid eight months later. Michael, 58, said he helped organise the music for the funeral. He added:
“Tom’s daughter Hannah called me and said ‘We were thinking of what we want for the funeral.’ I said ‘If I were you, I think a really important hymn, which I know Tom loved, was I Vow To Thee My Country.’”
Asked if he would sing at the upcoming memorial, Michael said: “Oh, I hope so.
“I mean, I did the Royal Variety Show with him. How cool was that?”
The pair duetted virtually because of lockdown.
Michael added: “We were going to travel to Blackpool together to do it. And then, of course, because of lockdown, we weren’t able to.
“But technology meant that we could get in there, with Tom and I singing together.”
Michael Ball’s new album We Are More Than One is released by Decca Records on May 7.