Ferry Aid
Encyclopedia
Ferry Aid were a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 ensemble group, brought together to record the song "Let It Be
Let It Be (song)
"Let It Be" is a song by The Beatles, released in March 1970 as a single, and as the title track of their album Let It Be. It was written by Paul McCartney, but credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was their final single before McCartney announced his departure from the band...

" in 1987. The single was released following the Zeebrugge Disaster, which had occurred on 6 March 1987 involving the capsizing
Capsize
Capsizing is an act of tipping over a boat or ship to disable it. The act of reversing a capsized vessel is called righting.If a capsized vessel has sufficient flotation to prevent sinking, it may recover on its own if the stability is such that it is not stable inverted...

 of the MS Herald of Free Enterprise ferry, which killed 193 passengers and crew. All proceeds from sales of the single were donated to the charity set up in the aftermath of the disaster. The recording was organised by The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...

newspaper, after they had sold cheap tickets for the ferry on that day. "Let It Be" was written by Lennon/McCartney
Lennon/McCartney
The Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership is one of the best-known and most successful musical collaborations in history...

 and originally recorded by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

 in 1969.

Recording

The Sun newspaper organised the recording of the song by recruiting record producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman
Stock Aitken Waterman
Stock Aitken Waterman, sometimes known as SAW, were a UK songwriting and record producing trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. They had great success during the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s...

. They then put an invite out to the music industry for artists to contribute their vocals to the song. Although many stars were initially reluctant to join forces with the newspaper, eventually artists such as Boy George
Boy George
Boy George is a British singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by...

, Kate Bush
Kate Bush
Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...

 and Mark Knopfler
Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...

 agreed to take part. Original writer, Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

 also contributed to the song, although his performance (and section in the accompanying video) were recorded independently in his own studios. In fact, it was later revealed that McCartney used his voice of the original recording of the 1970 Beatles track and added it to the Ferry Aid recording. The song was recorded over three days between 14 and 16 March 1987 and the single was released on Monday 23 March 1987. The first artist to record his part was Mark King
Mark King (musician)
Mark King is an English musician. He is most famous for being the lead singer and bassist of the band, Level 42. In the early 1980s King popularized the 1970s-era slap and pop style for playing the bass guitar by incorporating it into pop music.-Early life:King was brought up on the Isle of Wight,...

 (who also played bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 on the song) on the Saturday morning, while the last was Paul King on Monday evening.

In the original Beatles recording George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...

 did the guitar solo but for the purposes of this song - as shown in the video - the solo was divided with Gary Moore first, than Mark Knopfler, than back to Gary Moore with Moore's parts being more 'rock' and Knopfler's being more laid-back.

Performers

Artists to have contributed and performed solo spots on the song are as follows (in order of appearance):
  • Paul McCartney
    Paul McCartney
    Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

  • Boy George
    Boy George
    Boy George is a British singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by...

  • Keren Woodward
    Keren Woodward
    Keren Woodward is an English pop singer and songwriter of British girl group Bananarama, co-founded by her long time school friend Sara Dallin and Siobhan Fahey....

     and Nick Kamen
    Nick Kamen
    Nick Kamen is an English male model, songwriter and musician, and brother of session guitarist Chester Kamen and artist Barry Kamen.-Career:...

  • Paul King
  • Mark King
    Mark King (musician)
    Mark King is an English musician. He is most famous for being the lead singer and bassist of the band, Level 42. In the early 1980s King popularized the 1970s-era slap and pop style for playing the bass guitar by incorporating it into pop music.-Early life:King was brought up on the Isle of Wight,...

  • Jaki Graham
    Jaki Graham
    Jaki Graham is an English singer. Her biggest international success was reaching number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in 1994, with her cover version of Chaka Khan's hit, "Ain't Nobody"....

  • Taffy
    Taffy (singer)
    Taffy was a 1980s Hi-NRG disco singer, known for her hit, "I Love My Radio".The song, produced by Claudio Cecchetto, who was also behind all her previous hits in Italy, was released in the United Kingdom by Rhythm King's Transglobal Records and was originally a hit in France in 1985...

  • Mark Knopfler
    Mark Knopfler
    Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...

     (guitar solo)
  • Andy Bell
    Andy Bell (singer)
    Andrew Ivan "Andy" Bell is the lead singer of the English synthpop duo Erasure. He also has a solo career, with the albums Non-Stop and Electric Blue.-Early life:Andy Bell originates from the Dogsthorpe area in Peterborough...

  • Pepsi & Shirlie
    Pepsi & Shirlie
    Pepsi & Shirlie were a British pop duo who released two albums, All Right Now in 1987 and Change in 1991.-Career:The act comprised Helen "Pepsi" DeMacque and Shirlie Holliman , who had been Wham! backing vocalists. Holliman's original singing partner, Dee C...

  • Mel and Kim
    Mel and Kim
    Mel and Kim were a British pop duo, comprising sisters Melanie and Kim Appleby. They achieved success between 1986 and 1988 before Melanie succumbed to cancer.-Biography:...

  • Gary Moore
    Gary Moore
    Robert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....

     (guitar solo)
  • Kim Wilde
    Kim Wilde
    Kim Wilde is an English pop singer, author and television presenter who burst onto the music scene in 1981 with the number 2 UK Singles Chart new wave classic "Kids in America". In 1987 she had a major hit in the United States when her version of The Supremes' classic "You Keep Me Hangin' On"...

     and Nik Kershaw
    Nik Kershaw
    Nik Kershaw is an English singer-songwriter. The one time jazz-funk guitarist was a mid-1980s teen idol. His 50 weeks on the UK Singles Chart in 1984 beat all other soloists...

  • Edwin Starr
    Edwin Starr
    Edwin Starr was an American soul music singer. Starr is most famous for his Norman Whitfield produced singles of the 1970s, most notably the number one hit "War".-Biography:...

  • Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot
    Curiosity Killed the Cat
    Curiosity Killed the Cat was a British pop band that found success in the UK Singles Chart in the late 1980s and early 1990s.-Career:The band tried to play soulful, jazzy, and funky pop music and was initially signed to Phonogram Records' Mercury imprint. They first came to notice of the UK music...

  • Ruby Turner
    Ruby Turner
    Ruby Turner is a British R&B and soul singer, songwriter and actress. In 1967, she relocated with her family to Handsworth, Birmingham, England when she was nine years old...

  • Kate Bush
    Kate Bush
    Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...


The closing choruses of the song feature an ensemble choir featuring many of the above performers as well other recording artists. The back-up chorus consisted of:
  • The Alarm
    The Alarm
    The Alarm are an alternative rock band that emerged from North Wales in the late 1970s. They started as a mod band and stayed together for over ten years. As a rock band, they displayed marked influences from Welsh language and culture...

    , John Altman
    John Altman
    John Altman is an English actor and singer, perhaps best known for playing "Nasty" Nick Cotton in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders. In 2010 he became the new frontman of the band Heavy Metal Kids following the death of former frontman Gary Holton in 1985.-Career:Altman was born in Reading,...

    , Debee Ashby
    Debee Ashby
    Debee Ashby is a former English adult model and actress. She is also known as Debbie Ashby or Debby Ashby.Ashby became well known at the age of 16 years when she was expelled from King Henry VIII School, Coventry on 16 December 1983 because she had posed topless in her school uniform for the...

    , Al Ashton, Rick Astley
    Rick Astley
    Richard Paul "Rick" Astley is an English singer-songwriter, musician, and radio personality. He is known for his 1987 song, "Never Gonna Give You Up", which was a #1 hit single in 25 countries...

    , Bananarama
    Bananarama
    Bananarama are an English female pop duo who have had success on the pop and dance charts since 1982. Rather than relying on a two part harmony, the duo generally sings in unison, as do their background vocalists. Although there have been line-up changes, the group enjoyed their most popular...

    , Simon Bates
    Simon Bates
    Simon Bates is a UK disc jockey and radio presenter. Between 1976 and 1993 he worked at BBC Radio 1, presenting the station's weekday mid-morning show for most of this period. He later became a regular presenter on Classic FM...

    , Alison Bettles
    Alison Bettles
    Alison Bettles is an English television actress. She is best known for playing Fay Lucas in BBC's Grange Hill for six series .- Career :...

    , Jenny Blythe, Errol Brown
    Errol Brown
    Errol Brown MBE is a singer and songwriter, best known as the frontman of Hot Chocolate. He has British citizenship by marriage to Ginette and they live in The Bahamas...

    , Miquel Brown
    Miquel Brown
    Miquel Brown Miquel Brown Miquel Brown (born Michael Brown, 1954 is a Canadian actress and Disco/Soul singer from the 1970s and '80s most popular for the songs "Close to Perfection" and the Hi-NRG songs 'So Many Men, So Little Time' and "He's A Saint, He's A Sinner" (both now considered vintage gay...

    , Bucks Fizz
    Bucks Fizz (band)
    Bucks Fizz are an English pop group who achieved success in the 1980s, most notably for winning the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Making Your Mind Up". The group was formed in January 1981 specifically for the contest and comprised four vocalists: Bobby G, Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and...

    , Jay Carly, The Christians, Nick Conway
    Nick Conway
    Nicholas "Nick" Conway is an English actor. He played Billy Boswell in Carla Lane's popular BBC comedy series Bread...

    , Linda Davidson
    Linda Davidson
    Linda Davidson is a Canadian-British former actress, writer and a media corporate. She played the wayward punk, Mary Smith in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders. Mary was one of the serial's original characters and Davidson played her from March 1985 to May 1988...

    , Hazell Dean
    Hazell Dean
    Hazell Dean is a British dance-pop singer, who achieved her biggest success in the 1980s as a leading Hi-NRG artist. She is best known for the top ten hits "Searchin' ", "Whatever I Do " and "Who's Leaving Who"...

    , Anne Diamond
    Anne Diamond
    Anne Margaret Diamond is an English radio and television presenter and journalist. She hosted Good Morning Britain for TV-am and the similarly titled Good Morning... with Anne and Nick for BBC1, both with Nick Owen as her co-presenter...

    , Difford and Tilbrook, Doctor and the Medics
    Doctor and the Medics
    Doctor and the Medics are a London based psychedelic rock band which enjoyed greatest success in the 1980s and are best known for their UK No. 1 song, "Spirit in the Sky"...

    , The Drifters
    The Drifters
    The Drifters are a long-lived American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group with a peak in popularity from 1953 to 1963, though several splinter Drifters continue to perform today. They were originally formed to serve as Clyde McPhatter's backing group in 1953...

    , Drum Theatre
    Drum Theatre
    Drum Theatre were a British pop group, active in the mid 1980s. The band released four singles and one album, after which they disbanded.-Singles:* "Eldorado" - European number 1, UK #44 ITA#2* "Living in the Past" - UK #67 ITA#25...

    , Frankie Goes to Hollywood
    Frankie Goes to Hollywood
    Frankie Goes to Hollywood were a British dance-pop band popular in the mid-1980s. The group was fronted by Holly Johnson , with Paul Rutherford , Peter Gill , Mark O'Toole , and Brian Nash .The group's debut single "Relax" was banned by the BBC in 1984 while at number six in the charts and...

    , Roy Gayle, Go West
    Go West (band)
    Go West is an English pop duo, formed in 1982 by lead vocalist and drummer Peter Cox ; and guitarist and vocalist Richard Drummie...

    , Carol Hitchcock
    Carol Hitchcock
    Carol Hitchcock is an Australian singer and actor.Hitchcock was a recording artist for Mushroom Records in Australia in the late 1980s. She was well known for her very severe look; a bald head, nose ring and many ear piercings...

    , Felix Howard, Gloria Hunniford
    Gloria Hunniford
    Gloria Hunniford is a Northern Irish TV and radio presenter, and formerly a singer.-Biography:...

    , Imagination
    Imagination (band)
    Imagination were a three piece British soul and funk band, who came to prominence in the early 1980s. They had chart hits in 28 countries, earning four platinum discs, nine gold discs and more than a dozen silver discs around the world between 1981 and 1983....

    , Jenny Jay
    Jenny Jay
    Jenny Jay , is a British actress, who played Carmen in Carla Lane's television series Bread. She has also appeared in such programmes as Behind The Bike Sheds, The Bill, KYTV, Alas Smith and Jones, All Creatures Great and Small, Inspector Morse and the 80s children's drama series, Dodger, Bonzo and...

    , Ellie Laine, Annabel Lamb
    Annabel Lamb
    -Career:Annabel Lamb has released eight albums to date. She had a British Top 30 hit in 1983 with her cover version of The Doors song, Riders on the Storm, her only hit in the UK singles chart. She appeared performing the song on Top of The Pops later that year. Her debut album, Once Bitten,...

    , Stephanie Lawrence
    Stephanie Lawrence
    Stephanie Lawrence was a British musical theatre actress.-Background:Stephanie Lawrence was born in Hayling Island, Hampshire, the daughter of a singer and classically trained dancer.She was from an early age close friends with another Famous Islander Peter Chilvers who in 1958 invented the...

    , Loose Ends
    Loose Ends (band)
    Loose Ends was a successful British R&B band that had several urban contemporary hits. The trio was formed in London in 1980, initially comprising vocalist and guitarist Carl McIntosh, vocalist Jane Eugene, and keyboard player, writer and founder Steve Nichol...

    , Linda Lusardi
    Linda Lusardi
    Linda Lusardi is an English actress, television presenter and former Page Three Girl. She is married to the actor Samuel Kane; they have two children, both born in Enfield, London: Lucy Anne and Jack Francis ....

    , Ruth Madoc
    Ruth Madoc
    Ruth Madoc is a British actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Gladys Pugh in the 1980s BBC television comedy Hi-de-Hi!, and as Daffyd Thomas's mother in the second series of Little Britain.-Early life:...

     Bobby McVey, Suzanne Mizi, The New Seekers
    The New Seekers
    The New Seekers are a British-based pop group, formed in 1969 by Keith Potger after the break-up of his group, The Seekers. The idea was that the New Seekers would appeal to the same market as the original Seekers, but their music had rock as well as folk influences...

    , Sadie Nine, The Nolans
    The Nolans
    The Nolans are an Anglo-Irish all-female band consisting of a group of sisters. The group, best known for their song "I'm In the Mood for Dancing", gained prominence as guest performers on numerous television shows in the United Kingdom...

    , Hazel O'Connor
    Hazel O'Connor
    Hazel O'Connor is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of a soldier from Galway who settled in England after World War II to work in a car plant...

    , Mike Osman
    Mike Osman
    Mike Osman is an English radio presenter, impressionist and entertainer.He was born in Millbrook, Southampton, England in August 1959, the fourth of seven brothers...

    , Su Pollard
    Su Pollard
    Susan Georgina "Su" Pollard, 7 November 1949, Nottingham) is an English comedy actress, most famous for her roles in the sitcoms Hi-de-Hi! and You Rang, M'Lord?. She is also well known for her unusual and flamboyant dress sense and her abrupt voice....

    , Tim Polley, Pamela Power, Maxi Priest
    Maxi Priest
    Max Alfred "Maxi" Priest is a British reggae vocalist of Jamaican descent. He is best known for singing reggae music with a R&B influence, otherwise known as reggae fusion, and became one of the first international successes who regularly dabbled in the genre as well as being one of the most...

    , Princess, Jimmy Pursey
    Jimmy Pursey
    Jimmy Pursey is an English singer and record producer. He was the founder and frontman of the English punk rock band, Sham 69 from 1976 to 1980, and from 1986 to 2006.-Biography:...

    , Suzi Quatro
    Suzi Quatro
    Susan Kay "Suzi" Quatro is an American singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor.She scored a string of hit singles in the 1970s that found greater success in Europe and Australia than in her homeland, and had a recurring role on the popular American sitcom Happy Days.-Music:Quatro began her...

    , Mike Read
    Mike Read
    Michael David Kenneth Read is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter.-Early life:...

    , Sally Sagoe
    Sally Sagoe
    Sally Sagoe is a former English actress.She first entered showbusiness on a cruise liner in the Pacific, later working extensively as a singer with her Sally Sagoe Band....

    , Nejdet Salih, Ray Shell
    Ray Shell
    Ray Shell is an African American, film, TV and stage actor, as well as an author, director and producer. He is famous for creating the roles of Nomax in Five Guys Named Moe and Rusty in Starlight Express...

    , Mandy Smith
    Mandy Smith
    Mandy Smith is an English dance-pop singer, former model and aspiring counsellor.-Early life:In 1983, at age 13 she started dating 47-year-old The Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman, with the consent of her mother...

    , Neville Stapleton, Alvin Stardust
    Alvin Stardust
    Alvin Stardust is an English pop singer and stage actor.-Career:...

    , Steve Strange
    Steve Strange
    Steve Strange , is a Welsh pop singer, best known as the lead singer and frontman of the 1980s pop group Visage...

    , Sylvia Tella
    Sylvia Tella
    Sylvia Tella is a British lovers rock singer, who after working as a vocalist for Boney M embarked on a successful solo career, releasing her first album in 1981. She had a top 40 hit in 1989 in collaboration with the Blow Monkeys.-Biography:Born c.1960 in Manchester, England, Tella's career began...

    , Terraplane
    Terraplane (band)
    Terraplane were a 1980s pop rock band from London, England. Five musicians, they released two studio albums before disbanding in 1988. The band featured three musicians who would go on to form the hard rock act, Thunder.-Biography:...

    , Bonnie Tyler
    Bonnie Tyler
    Bonnie Tyler is a Welsh singer, most notable for her hits in the 1970s and 1980s including "It's a Heartache", "Holding Out for a Hero" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart".-Early life:...

    , Maria Whittaker
    Maria Whittaker
    Maria Whittaker is a former English glamour model and Page Three girl.-Modelling career:Whittaker made her début as a Page Three girl in British newspaper The Sun in 1985, at the age of 16...

    , Working Week
    Working Week (band)
    Working Week were a British jazz-dance musical ensemble, active in the 1980s and 1990s.Working Week were formed in 1983 by guitarist Simon Booth and saxophonist Larry Stabbins, who were previously in post punk outfit Weekend...

    .


The B-side of the 7" single is a gospel version of "Let It Be", made up on the spot by improvising. The 12" single has "Let It Be (Mega Message Mix)" on the B-side.

Chart performance

"Let It Be" made number one in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 in its first week on 4 April 1987, and remained at that position for three weeks. It was the 13th best selling single of the year in the UK; it was certified gold for shipping over 500,000 copies.
The single was also a number one hit in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, and reached the top 10 in several European countries.
Chart (1987) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

1
Austrian Singles Chart 4
Dutch GfK
GfK
The GfK Group, established in 1934 as Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung is Germany's largest market research institute, and the fourth largest market research organisation in the world, after Nielsen Company, Kantar Group, and IMS Health...

 chart
4
Dutch Top 40
Dutch Top 40
The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting...

3
French Singles Chart 8
Irish Singles Chart
Irish Singles Chart
The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...

2
Norwegian Singles Chart 1
Swedish Singles Chart 9
Swiss Singles Chart 1

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK