In what is likely to be one of the biggest celebrity musical line-ups of all time, stars including Elton John, Lorde, Kylie Minogue, Pharrell, One Direction and Chris Martin have all come out in an amazing new charity song.
The song, which is a cover of the Beach Boys classic “God Only Knows”, was released to celebrate the launch of BBC Music and features many musicians local to Britain as well as a star-studded international line-up. So far, the song just exists as a rather spectacular video, but it will soon also be available for download, with all funds raised from sales going to Children in Need, the BBC’s charity.
It celebrates the launch of a new initiative by the famed British broadcaster to commit to “new programmes, innovative partnerships and ground-breaking music initiatives” across all of its various television and radio channels and networks.
The new director of BBC Music Bob Shennan, says: “This is an exciting moment for BBC Music as we launch to a global audience. With the 80-piece BBC Concert Orchestra at its heart and comprising an array of iconic music stars, from a wide range of musical genres, this ‘impossible’ orchestra is a celebration of all the talent, diversity and musical passion found every single day throughout the BBC.
The original composer and producer of the song, Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson (who also features in the video)said: “All of the artists did such a beautiful job I can’t thank them enough. God Only Knows is a very special song. An extremely spiritual song and one of the best I’ve ever written.”
In total there are 28 different artists involved, who all sang under the name “The Impossible Orchestra” and here’s the full star-studded list (pictured above in the official image from the BBC):
Dave Grohl (of Nirvana and the Foo Fighters), Alison Balsom, Lorde, Pharrell, Zane Lowe, Paloma Faith, Sam Smith, Eliza Carthy, Nicola Benedetti, Chris Martin (Coldplay front man and Gwyneth Paltrow’s ed), Martin James Bartlett, Danielle de Niese, Jaz Dhami, Stevie Wonder, Florence Welch, Lauren Laverne, Kylie Minogue, Brian Wilson, Jake Bugg, Katie Derham, Gareth Malone, Chrissie Hynde (of the Pretenders), Emeli Sande, Ethan Johns, One Direction, Elton John, Baaba Maal, Jools Holland, Jamie Cullum and Brian May of Queen.
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