Biography
Broadcaster and choirmaster Gareth Malone established the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir after the group appeared in his 2012 BBC series The Choir: Sing While You Work, itself a workplace-focused spin-off from the earlier format of The Choir. The project revolved around forming employee ensembles that would rehearse collectively before facing rivals in competition, and the NHS ensemble ultimately finished behind the choir assembled by Severn Trent Water in a tightly contested finale.
Comprising thirty NHS employees whose roles ranged from doctors and nurses to porters and administrative personnel, the choir sustained regular performances for hospital patients and colleagues after the broadcast concluded, expanding those appearances to local-community events and more distant venues. They issued the single “A Bridge Over You,” a medley of the Simon & Garfunkel standard “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and Coldplay’s “Fix You,” which outsold Adele and Justin Bieber to claim the U.K. Christmas number-one position in 2015; all proceeds were directed to charitable causes. At that moment the British Medical Association had advised industrial action in response to an unpopular revised contract imposed on junior doctors, and the recording’s success helped spotlight the wider pressures facing the National Health Service. In a further gesture of public endorsement, the government declared that value-added tax collected from sales of the single would likewise benefit charity. Demonstrating solidarity, Justin Bieber publicly encouraged his followers on Twitter to support the track’s climb to the top spot, even though his own release “Love Yourself” stood in direct competition.
The ensemble’s debut full-length album arrived in 2016, again with all earnings earmarked for charity. Its title and lead single derived from Labi Siffre’s 1987 hit “(Something Inside) So Strong,” while the track list included renditions of Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend,” Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me,” and Sting’s “Fields of Gold,” the last of which had also been memorably interpreted by Eva Cassidy.
Comprising thirty NHS employees whose roles ranged from doctors and nurses to porters and administrative personnel, the choir sustained regular performances for hospital patients and colleagues after the broadcast concluded, expanding those appearances to local-community events and more distant venues. They issued the single “A Bridge Over You,” a medley of the Simon & Garfunkel standard “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and Coldplay’s “Fix You,” which outsold Adele and Justin Bieber to claim the U.K. Christmas number-one position in 2015; all proceeds were directed to charitable causes. At that moment the British Medical Association had advised industrial action in response to an unpopular revised contract imposed on junior doctors, and the recording’s success helped spotlight the wider pressures facing the National Health Service. In a further gesture of public endorsement, the government declared that value-added tax collected from sales of the single would likewise benefit charity. Demonstrating solidarity, Justin Bieber publicly encouraged his followers on Twitter to support the track’s climb to the top spot, even though his own release “Love Yourself” stood in direct competition.
The ensemble’s debut full-length album arrived in 2016, again with all earnings earmarked for charity. Its title and lead single derived from Labi Siffre’s 1987 hit “(Something Inside) So Strong,” while the track list included renditions of Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend,” Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me,” and Sting’s “Fields of Gold,” the last of which had also been memorably interpreted by Eva Cassidy.
Albums