UPDATE: You can now order a Personal Video Message from me in exchange for a donation to The Swan Song Project!
I am honoured to be the ambassador for The Swan Song Project, a unique small charity which helps people who are facing the end of their life to write and record an original song.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe8nAQDtFYQ
Writing a song in those circumstances is an amazing idea. Sometimes it’s incredibly hard to express things in words or face to face. So being able to put it into that form, that people can then listen to forever, seems to me an incredible way of having a real memory of a person, to help you cope with the fact that they’re not there anymore.
I was very surprised when they asked me to become their ambassador ("Why me! I am clearly unqualified"), but I'm delighted to pledge my support to them, and grateful for the chance to do something good by helping them in their work.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gHq6KH17VI
I visited the Swan Song Project studio to film this world-first exclusive performance of the song Tempest from my album The Faintest Idea. It’s a cover – Tempest was originally by White Moth Black Butterfly – I chose to record my own version because the song helped me cope with the death of my stepfather Mike from cancer. Many of us have similarly been helped through loss by a song. Swan Song Project allows people who would otherwise be unable to, to leave their own musical legacy for their loved ones or for the world.
In the Swan Song Project studio in Leeds, UK with charity founder / Creative Director Ben 'Buddy' Slack
I'll be working with them lots in the future, so expect to hear me banging on about them every so often in the coming months/years.
For more information about The Swan Song Project, please visit www.swansongproject.co.uk