School goes up against star names to be No 1 at Christmas
Children from Lancashire close in on top of the charts with charity single
A GROUP of schoolchildren from Lancashire are going head to head with global superstars Ariana Grande and Miley Cyrus as they attempt to take their charity single to Christmas number one, with the help of celebrity backers.
The 470 pupils, aged between two and 11, from Flakefleet Primary School in Fleetwood, have already received the support of the broadcaster Stephen Fry and the singers KT Tunstall and Alfie Boe, the latter having been born in the town.
Their song, Light Up, climbed to number two in the itunes chart on its release yesterday and the school will find out on Friday whether it has topped the official UK chart, which takes into account all downloads and streams.
The Official Charts Company, which is responsible for collecting sales figures and producing the chart, expects the school to be a front-runner for the coveted title, alongside two other charity songs.
But the amateurs, who produced the song on a zero budget, will face stiff competition from Ariana Grande, who has been number one for the past six weeks with Thank U, Next, a tribute to her ex-boyfriends, while her new single Imagine was also released yesterday. Meanwhile, Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus’s ballad, Nothing Breaks Like a Heart, is also expected to do well.
However, the story behind Light Up promises to pull at the heartstrings, which could see it win out this festive season.
The school is donating all proceeds from the song to the dementia charity the Alzheimer’s Society after the grandmother of its head teacher, Dave Mcpartlin, 40, was diagnosed with the illness two years ago.
Doreen Ritchie, who is in her 90s, no longer recognises her grandson.
“She is a really special person,” Mr Mcpartlin said.
“But before her diagnosis I didn’t know much about dementia. Now I want to raise awareness.
“She is still with us but she is bedridden and doesn’t know who I am. Life is pretty tough for everybody.”
The song, written by children and staff at the school with the help of two unpaid producers, was recorded in the studio of its sister high school, free of charge.
Mr Mcpartlin was left in tears earlier in the week after he took children to “doorstep” Chris Evans before his BBC Radio 2 show began, to get his support – which was duly provided as Evans invited them into his studio.
There was further joy yesterday when Fry responded to the school on Twitter and proclaimed: “This is wondrous. Go Flakefleet!”
The school’s music video on Youtube, which has already been streamed over 20,000 times, shows the pupils in humorous sequences while playing with residents from a local care home.
If the school tops the chart at Christmas, it will be the first time since 2015 for a charity single, the last having been A Bridge Over You by the Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Choir.