- Title: UK: A TRIBUTE ALBUM OF MUSIC DEDICATED TO PRINCESS DIANA HITS THE SHOPS
- Date: 1st December 1997
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (DECEMBER 1, 1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) EXTERIOR OF HMV RECORD STORE IN OXFORD STREET RACKS OF TRIBUTE ALBUMS "DIANA" ON SALE PEOPLE AT CASH DESK (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH ) MEMORIAL FUND SPOKESPERSON KATE KNIGHTLEY DAY SAYING, "SOME SONGS HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN RECORDED COMPLETELY FRESH AND ARE BRAND NEW. FOR EXAMPLE CLIFF RICHARD'S TRACK AND SINEAD O'CONNORS MAKE ME A "CHANNEL FOR YOUR PEACE" IS ANOTHER NEW RECORDING. OTHER SONGS SUCH AS "HERO" BY MARIAH CAREY HAVE ACTUALLY NEVER BEEN HEARD BEFORE ON AN ALBUM. AND THEN THERE ARE OF COURSE THE CLASSIC TRACKS LIKE BARBRA STREISAND'S EVERGREEN" AND SOMETHING FOR ALL MUSIC TASTES FROM BARBRA STREISAND TO PUFF DADDY FANS."
- Embargoed: 16th December 1997 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM/ FILE
- City:
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Entertainment,Royalty
- Reuters ID: LVA65U1XXUQV2JH30RQU1QA0JFMJ
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: - A tribute album of music dedicated to Princess Diana has hit the shops. Organisers are hoping for a Christmas number one with tracks donated by world-famous artists such as Paul McCartney, Queen and Michael Jackson.
Thirty-six of the world's top music stars on Monday (December 1) released a Princess Diana tribute album that is expected to raise up to 50 million pounds (84 million U.S. dollars) for her favourite charities.
Billed as the biggest tear-jerker in the history of modern music, the album boasts tracks by superstars from Michael Jackson to Luciano Pavarotti.
Record shops expect to sell up to 200,000 copies a week in Britain in the run-up to Christmas for what they confidently expect will be the chart-topping album.
Diana memorial Fund Spokesperson Kate Knightley Day said all the musicians involved had been happy to donate their services.
Some gave well-known songs for the project, while others, including Cliff Richard and Sinead O'Connor made new recordings specially for the project.
Elton John's "Candle in the Wind," which reduced mourners to tears at Diana's funeral, became the world's biggest-selling single within a month of its September release.
Record producers believe that combined sales from the single and the compilation album could top 100 million pounds - twice what Bob Geldof earned with his 1985 pop benefit concert for African famine relief.
HMV Public relations manager Gennaro Castaldo said he was sure the album would prove popular, but added that music lovers may have had enough of tributes for Diana, "This album might be the line that's been drawn underneath all the tribute activity that has taken place." The album was put together in just three weeks with six major record companies agreeing to co-operate on production.
The official Princess Diana Memorial Fund set up its own record label to ensure that all profits go directly to her favoured charities, which range from AIDS to land-mine victims and the homeless.
Aretha Franklin came out of virtual retirement to record "I'll Fly Away." Tina Turner, who donated the track "Love is a Beautiful Thing," said: "I am very honoured to appear on this tribute album." Barbra Streisand donated a track for the first time ever to a compilation album.
Irish star Sinead O'Connor sings the hymn "Make me a Channel of Your Peace" that was sung by the Westminster Abbey choir at Diana's funeral.
Many of the songs like George Michael's "You have been loved" and "Who wants to live forever" by Queen were extensively played on radio stations after Diana's death in a Paris car crash on August 31.
Her death provoked a massive outpouring of grief among the normally staid British who turned her London home into a flower-strewn shrine to Diana's memory.
Whether or not the album itself or the first single to be released from it - The Chicken Shed Theatre Company's I'm In Love With The World" - makes it to number one remains to be seen.
But the 150 copies of the album going within the first few hours at HMV's Oxford Street store may be a good indication that people are happy to part with their cash for a good cause. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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