AN UNEXPECTED choir of Northern Ireland musicians have recorded a charity song to raise money to help survivors recovering from Covid-19.
The eclectic group includes a Eurovision winner, an Elvis impersonator, a West End star, a The Voice of Ireland coach and a Meteor Music Awards nominee, recorded remotely from their homes from Belfast to Denmark and Co Tyrone to Nashville, Tennessee in the USA.
Songwriter Pat Gribben reworked his 1988 hit with The Adventures Broken Land to suit the new theme of supporting the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic.
The message of hope, which sees each singer sending their verse directly to an NHS worker, hopes to raise funds for life-changing research at Northern Ireland universities for survivors of Covid-19.
As seriously ill patients are starting to recover from prolonged stays in intensive care little is know about what care and support they will need to to return to full health after catching this new virus.
Funding of £50,000 will help Professor Judy Bradley and researchers from Queen's and Ulster universities pioneer an understanding of what interventions are needed to help them "regain their strength both physically and mentally".
Funding up to £200,000 would go towards developing a bespoke programme and ensure that rehabilitation interventions are available for patients infected with Covid-19 in the future.
Pat Gribben opens the video and is followed by record producer Cormac O'Kane, musicals star Peter Corry, singers Anthony Toner, Brian Houston, Terry Sharpe, Cliona Hagan and Karl McGuckin - who sent their contributions from Co Tyrone, Derek Ryan Co Carlow, Kerri Quinn from Belfast, Joby Fox who recorded from Denmark, Liam Bradley from Derry, Brain Kennedy, Davy McLarnon and Donal Scullion from Belfast, Andrea Begley from Co Tyrone, Eileen Gribben, Ben Glover from his home in Nashville and Margaret Keys, Una McCann, Jim Brown, Eurovision winner Niamh Kavanagh, Duke Special, Cormac Neeson from Co Down, Peter McVeigh and Conor Lamb.
The medics featured are from the Ulster Hospital, with the track dedicated to the memory of Samuel Anderton Ellis who died of Covid-19 on the first day of this month.
If more than £200,000 is raised it will be donated to the Queen’s University Belfast Rapid Response Innovation Fund which is used to support the area of greatest need, including providing start-up funding for other Covid-19 related research projects.
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