On Sunday 21 August, singer/songwriter, Melissa James staged a Big Sing at London’s prestigious RAK Studios in a bid to promote awareness of mental health, and unite those with an understanding of mental health illness, through song. The singer called on anyone to join her in singing and recording her song LIVE AGAIN which is to be released as a charity single for mental health charity SANE.
The release of Live Again as a charity single is the second milestone in the SING4SANE series of events. The first took place at Heathrow’s Caffe Nero store in February this year when Melissa, who based Live Again on her own experiences and first-hand accounts of those she has witnessed with mind-related health struggles, asked people to take part in a live performance of the song. She had been so moved by the support of those who joined her that it led her to organize another, this time asking a public crowd to come together to make a recording of the song.
A keen number of responses to Melissa’s call for participants resulted in twenty-seven participants arriving at the studio famously founded by the late producer Mickie Most, to stand with Melissa and her line-up of professional musicians, to sing backing vocals on Live Again encouraging togetherness and attempting to highlight the stigma, and other issues, surrounding mind ill health. The record – produced by Andrew Hunt (Exec. Dir. of the Music Producer’s Guild) and Engineered by 3 time Grammy Award winner Robbie Nelson for his work on Beck’s ‘Morning Phase‘ – will see all sale proceeds go to the mental health charity SANE. Support towards the project has been shown by both Caffe Nero and Mental Health First Aid England.
John Mager, one of the SING4SANE participants, said of the recording day, “I feel privileged to have been a part. What I found so fascinating was that we arrived as people without much of a connection…However, at the end of the recording, several hours later, we were a cohesive group that hugged and embraced, with a thirst for more.”
Melissa also recalls a story of a man who came direct from LA to see her perform a show in London so he could tell her how – at a point when he was seriously considering taking his own life – her music saved him.
She says, “A story like that stays with you and makes you truly realize the positive effect, and power, that music can have. When you combine that with a number of voices coming together for no other reason than they believe in the cause and want to sing to support it, it sends an incredibly powerful message. What I realised from staging the SING4SANE Big Sing is that the people who stood alongside me did it because they “got” what I was trying to do and that’s why they gave their time. I hope now that the release of the SING4SANE version of Live Again will also encourage a bit more mind health awareness and more open talk of the importance of the healthcare of our minds.”
A live and public SING4SANE is being scheduled to happen later in the year.
LIVE AGAIN WILL BE AVAILABLE VIA ALL MAJOR ONLINE MUSIC OUTLETS AND IS AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER FROM i-TUNES: http://apple.co/2dDLb25
100% OF ALL SALE PROCEEDS WILL GO DIRECT TO CHARITY “SANE”
Melissa does not work for SANE and is not a representative of the charity.
“Best British blues singer I know” – Tom Robinson, BBC 6Music
