VIDEO: Pop Idol star teams up with Stonegate Pub Company for charity single
The Pop Idol finalist and Brookside star has pledged to donate proceeds from All About Love to children’s charity, Variety.
Birchall made the decision after meeting Stonegate chairman Ian Payne and hearing about Britain’s Biggest Pub Tour (BBPT) - a 5,555 mile tour of the UK that the 620-strong pub company is undertaking for the children’s charity this summer.
The single is available to pre-purchase via itunes now and will officially launch on Sunday 31 August.
Birchall said: “When I heard about Stonegate’s Britain’s Biggest Pub Tour challenge, I knew I’d love to be involved and so was honoured to be invited to be the voice of it, and for my song to be the official charity single for BBPT.
“The message in the song is that love is unconditional which could mean different things to different people. For me, I wrote it with all sorts of love in mind, of enduring long term love that of a parent and child. It feels like the perfect fit for Variety and the message of the tour.
Pride
“I feel proud that through this single the lives of many young children could be improved.”
No stranger to performing, Birchall has built a career that has included stage acting, TV roles in Brookside and Nice Guy Eddie. She reached the semi-finals of the first ever Pop Idol, so impressing Gary Barlow with her songwriting skills and vocals, that he swiftly signed her to his True North production company. She has since toured with Westlife and performed on Children in Need.
Trevor Green, from Variety, said, “Inspired by the emotional rollercoaster of the past few years, Jo’s music will deliver an uplifting message of hope to so many children and their families.”
Stonegate’s BBPT challenge chief executive, Toby Smith, said: “We are truly grateful to Jo for donating her song All about Love to help us achieve our aim of raising thousands for Variety, the Children’s Charity. It perfectly optimizes what Britain’s Biggest Pub Tour is all about, bringing communities together, offering unconditional love and support to those around us.
“When we first dreamt up the idea of touring around the UK with a giant Pledge Passport, challenging our pub teams to move it from one pub to the next using quirky methods of transport, we hoped we might raise £100,000. Unbelievably we’ve smashed this target already and we’re only a third of the way through.”
The passport will continue its tour around the country culminating with a spectacular party at Slug and Lettuce, Tower Bridge on Friday 26 September during which Jo Birchall will perform the single.
For more information or to make a donation go to: www.justgiving.com/company/stonegate/events#Britain-s-Biggest-Pub-Tour
