Singer and activist Melissa James is the driving force behind a number of worthy and influential projects. This evening I attended her ‘Parliamentary Big Sing’, an event supported by Helen Whately MP (Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mental Health) and Luciana Berger MP (Vice-Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Music).
Melissa spoke about her Sing4Sane campaign and the newly emerging Live Again Singing Project, plus led a discussion group featuring SANE founder Marjorie Wallace and Stephen Clift of Canterbury Christ Church University. The event climaxed with a group of school singers joining Melissa in a moving ‘Big Sing’ of her song, Live Again.
The Live Again Singing Project encourages people to learn to ‘live with their minds’, plus aims to inspire others by inviting them to join a pop-up-choir and to promote mental, physical and emotional well-being by musical engagement. Last summer Melissa invited members of the public to join her at RAK Studios in London, where the group sang backing vocals on Live Again. This was released as a charity single with all sale proceeds going to the mental health charity SANE. In early June a pop-up ‘Big Sing’ was also held on the concourse of Waterloo Station. A re-release of Live Again is planned for Friday 3 November.
