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Raising the Roof on Mental Health at Waterloo

The SING4SANE big sing set to take place at 12pm today at London Waterloo Railway Station has only been in the planning for a little over 2 weeks. The support in spreading the word has been phenomenal and I give huge thanks to all big hearts and organisations that have helped with this. We’re meeting inside the station, near to the Currency Exchange which is opposite M&S. If you would like to join, no need to get in touch now, simply pitch-up and come and sing “Live Again” with us. Connecting people with an understanding of mind ill health. And raising awareness of mental health through the amazing power of song. We’ll be there til 2pm this afternoon.

Let’s SING4SANE at Waterloo Station

Yes, it is happening. And I cannot wait for it. I’m taking the SING4SANE big sing to Waterloo mainline station on Saturday 3 June. Absolutely ANYONE is welcome to join. Please just get in touch for details by emailing sing4sane@gmail.com. We’ll be there in the afternoon singing Live Again to our heart’s content. All for mental health awareness. And to connect lots of people through the power of song. Come join us.

News of Stripped Back

I’ve been talking about the release of this new record for a long while it seems. I am pleased to let you know that we are in final stages of the artwork and hoping to send everything to print this month. Supportive and very patient Pledgers will receive their copies first. I’ll then announce availability of the remaining special, limited edition record which will likely only be available as physical copies via sites directly linked to me. There will be no general release of the physical copy. It will also be available as a download via the usual methods. More on all of that to come. For now, if you wish to listen again to the acoustic version of Live Again, taken from this forthcoming record, you can find it here on YouTube.

I’ve been talking about the release of this new record for a long while it seems. I am pleased to let you know that we are in final stages of the artwork and hoping to send everything to print this month. Supportive and very patient Pledgers will receive their copies first. I’ll then announce availability of the remaining special, limited edition record which will likely only be available as physical copies via sites directly linked to me. There will be no general release of the physical copy. It will also be available as a download via the usual methods. More on all of that to come.

For now, if you wish to listen again to the acoustic version of Live Again, taken from this forthcoming record, you can find it here on YouTube.

SING4SANE in the Media

A SING4SANE publicity event was held at Piccadilly’s Virgin Lounge last Thursday 26 January which involved a short interview and Q&A directed by filmmaker Alfred George Bailey (Gregory Porter: Don’t Forget the Music). Joining me in performing “Live Again” were a few of the guest singers who came to RAK Studios to record the charity single last summer too. It was a beautiful evening and lovely to hear the feedback of those who are connecting with the project. A piece on the project and single featured in last Sunday’s Express Newspaper and, ahead of the event, I did a short interview with Riz Lateef on BBC Radio London which you can hear here.

Get Live Again – the SING4SANE Single

If you haven’t already downloaded your copy of Live Again – the SING4SANE single which sees all sale proceeds go direct to the mental health charity, SANE - please don’t delay. Costing around a £1, buying the single takes little effort but is a big help in trying to push the SING4SANE project forward, connect people and encourage more talk on mind health matters in order to end the mental health stigma. Order now direct from iTunes, Google Play, Amazon and other online music stores. If you’ve not seen the promo, click here to see it on YouTube.

If you haven’t already downloaded your copy of Live Again – the SING4SANE single which sees all sale proceeds go direct to the mental health charity, SANE – please don’t delay. Costing around a £1, buying the single takes little effort but is a big help in trying to push the SING4SANE project forward, connect people and encourage more talk on mind health matters in order to end the mental health stigma.
Order now direct from iTunes, Google Play, Amazon and other online music stores. If you’ve not seen the promo, click here to see it on YouTube.

SING4SANE in Music Week

I am absolutely thrilled that SING4SANE got a mention in Music Week this week offering readers an introduction to the SING4SANE project, telling them about the release of the “Live Again” charity single and the planned Big Sing event taking place this Sunday 13th at Caffe Nero Piccadilly.

A weighty music industry magazine, this piece really helps in spreading awareness of the S4S cause in trying to raise awareness of mental health issues. Have a read of the article, watch the S4S promo here and then order the S4S single via iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and other online music stores.

Remember all sale proceeds go direct to SANE. But most importantly, please keep spreading the word.

Read the write-up in Music Week here.

S4S PROMO | iTunes | Amazon | Google Play | SANE

Pre-Order Live Again and Help Raise Awareness of Mental Health Through Song

Really pleased to announce that the SING4SANE track that it feels like I’ve been speaking about for weeks on end is now finally available to pre-order via i-Tunes. The track – costing just 99p – will see ALL sale proceeds go direct to the mental health charity, SANE. I’ve talked quite a bit about the importance of this SING4SANE project and, in particular, about the story of Live Again, its message and how this song has helped me to learn a lot about myself and about the importance of mind health awareness and matters. You can learn a little more about this by watching the promo video via YouTube. Please do 1) BUY the single from I-TUNES now . 2) SHARE the SING4SANE message using #SING4SANE 3) WATCH the promo video on YouTube.

Really pleased to announce that the SING4SANE track that it feels like I’ve been speaking about for weeks on end is now finally available to pre-order via i-Tunes. The track – costing just 99p – will see ALL sale proceeds go direct to the mental health charity, SANE. I’ve talked quite a bit about the importance of this SING4SANE project and, in particular, about the story of Live Again, its message and how this song has helped me to learn a lot about myself and about the importance of mind health awareness and matters. You can learn a little more about this by watching the promo video via YouTube. Please do 1) BUY the single from I-TUNES now . 2) SHARE the SING4SANE message using #SING4SANE 3) WATCH the promo video on YouTube.

The SING4ANE Big Sing at RAK Studios

I am only now just coming to land – some 4 weeks later – having performed and recorded the Big Sing version of Live Again at St John’s Wood’s RAK Studios. Sunday 21 August was the day that twenty-seven willing singing participants joined my fantastic line-up of pro musicians and me to sing backing vocals on the song that will soon be released as a charity single in aid of mind health awareness. It was a beautiful day. That is all that can be said really. Trying to find any other adjectives to describe the event almost minimises its significance. I give thanks to everyone for their hard work, energy and participation and a big thank you to Mental Health First Aid England, Caffe Nero and to RAK for allowing such a large group of us to descend on, and make use of, its premises. An amazing day. The single will release in October so stay posted for updates on the date.

Learning to Live Again – My Story Goes Live

Yesterday, I finally allowed Help Musicians UK to have, and to publish, a blog that I started writing about two months ago. The delay was mostly as a result of the slight trepidation I felt about making public what is a very personal story. In touting myself as an advocate of mind health care and as someone who believes that mental – or mind - health should be destigmatised, it makes sense that I should give my reasons for doing so.

Yesterday, I finally allowed Help Musicians UK to have, and to publish, a blog that I started writing about two months ago. The delay was mostly as a result of the slight trepidation I felt about making public what is a very personal story.

In touting myself as an advocate of mind health care and as someone who believes that mental – or mind – health should be destigmatised, it makes sense that I should give my reasons for doing so.

The SING4SANE Big Sing project is also soon to take place in a recording studio and I know some of you may wonder why I am putting myself through the trouble of organising such an event. After the weeks of delay, it finally felt right yesterday to release my story.

Help Musicians UK has been very supportive in allowing me to use their website to talk about my own charity project, given they are a charity themselves. And the team has been very considerate and patient in waiting for me to deliver my write-up which I’d promised I would have delivered to them many weeks before.

I thank them hugely for that. And, if you might like to read my words, please visit their website to read my blog by clicking here.

Live Recording – The Green Note

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I say it after just about every performance at The Green Note but it’s very true that last week’s gig at this basement club was again very special.

A tightly packed room meant we were all warm in temperature but there was a lot of warmth coming direct from the hearts of everyone present too. Truly a feeling that I’d love to be able to put in a bottle.

Here’s a snippet of the night in the form of a recording of Live Again on which the audience joined backing vocals towards the end. They were perfect candidates for the SING4SANE Big Sing recording project so I was glad that some signed-up too.