Take That’s Mark Owen teams up with Grasmere Primary School pupils for charity single
Mark Owen and the children in the video. - Credit: Archant
A Stoke Newington primary school found themselves up against Bruce Springsteen and Madonna in the iTunes charts this week, after teaming up with Take That’s Mark Owen to record a single for a hospice charity.
The pupils from Stoke Newington recorded the song for Salisbury Hospice. - Credit: Archant
Dozens of students from Years 2 to 4 at Grasmere made their way down to Dean Street recording studios last week to sing a cover of Take That’s hit, Hold Up a Light from their 2009 number one album, The Circus.
“Mark Owen [and the recording studio] made the kids feel like rockstars,” said Julia Williamson, assistant head. “The crew made them feel like professional artists, with headphones and mics and everything, and Mark was chatting away with them and getting down on their level.
Julia added: “The kids told me they felt really special. They’ll remember it for the rest of their lives.”
The project was organised by Jamie Newton, a musician with two sons at Grasmere who co-wrote Hold Up a Light.
Pupils and teachers from Grasmere Primary School. - Credit: Archant
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The song is a tribute to Jamie’s late mum, Linda Brown, and the proceeds will be split equally between Grasmere and the Salisbury Hospice, where Linda was cared for up until her death from cancer last year.
“Mum was a singing teacher, so this seemed perfect. I think it would have meant a lot to hear these kids,” said Jamie.
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“And [the children] have managed to reach so many people even outside of Hackney, like Take That fans or those who have had similar experiences that have got in touch and said that the kids are saying something that they relate to.”
The track launched on iTunes last Friday and since then the team have been running a Twitter campaign encouraging people to download it for the chance to win free tickets to the next Take That show.
Grasmere is hoping to chart on iTunes by the end of this week. The song was eligible for charting in the iTunes ‘mid-weeks’ yesterday, and narrowly missed out to Bruce Springsteen and Madonna.
“We’re hoping to chart by this Friday,” Jamie explained. “At any rate, I think this shows that Grasmere isn’t your average primary school. That’s some pretty tough competition in my opinion.”
Paula Flower, Head of Fundraising at Salisbury Hospice Charity said: “It’s difficult to put into words how grateful we are to Jamie.”
