09 Jun Frontline Heroes Treated to World Premier of Charity Song for NHS
Frontline heroes at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH), were treated to the world premier (video) of Elliot Porter and The Isolation Artists cover of Frank Turner’s ‘Be More Kind’. The new charity single has been recorded by a host of artists to raise much-needed funds for the NHS and was officially released on 5 June 2020.
Enjoying the lunchtime treat were a wide range of staff from CUH (Addenbrookes and Rosie Maternity), including Natalie Ellis, Head of Arts, CUH. She says: “This was a real treat for our staff, to hear this very moving song, which has been put together to raise funds for NHS charities. It’s lovely to know that our community is very appreciative of our continued efforts to help people through the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The single was the brainchild of Essex/Herts-based musician Elliot Porter. He explains: “When the lockdown started in March my sister, Chloe, and I started a platform for musicians to stream live gigs from their homes to fans – giving an income to the artists and pleasure to the fans. These ‘Isolation Gigs’ proved so successful on Facebook and Youtube that I realised that we could use the technology to record a song to raise much needed money for the NHS.
“I love the positive message of Frank Turner’s ‘Be More Kind’, and it also seemed to fit the Coronavirus situation very well. A couple of the musicians from the ‘Isolation Gigs’ have worked with Frank and through them Frank gave his support for the recording. Frank has recorded an introduction to the song and he said he’s very humbled, honoured and proud about our cover and thinks it’s a killer version of his much-loved track.”
The musicians featured on ‘Be More Kind’ by Elliot Porter and the Isolation Artists, include vocalist Jess Greenfield from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, the Cambridgeshire-based guitarist Tom Wright who has played with Ronan Keating, The Feeling and Albert Lee, the America-based Jon Snodgrass and Austin Lucas who have both worked with Frank Turner, singer/songwriters Bella Chipperfield from Bishop’s Stortford and Zoe Philips from Hertfordshire, and Daisy Chute from classical crossover group All Angels. There are many more musicians involved in the project. Elliot himself is a singer/songwriter who has featured on BBC Introducing and has played on Bob Harris’s Radio 2 show.
All the parts for ‘Be More Kind’ have been recorded in isolation across the world, in the artist’s homes, and the digital files have been emailed to Elliot to produce and mix. “Every single person involved in the project is passionate about the NHS and realise that it needs every penny it can get to fight Covid 19. We all have our fingers crossed that we can really help the NHS out in these strange times,” said Elliot.
‘Be More Kind’ by Elliot Porter and The Isolation Artists will be available to stream/download on all major platforms (Spotify etc) for 99p, from 5 June but is available to pre-save on Spotify from 29 May. There is also a Just Giving page for anyone who would like to make a donation, www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bemorekind20
