Ferry Aid was a British-American charity supergroup, brought together to record the song " Let It Be" in 1987. The single was released following the Zeebrugge Disaster; on 6 March 1987 the ferry had capsized, killing 193 passengers and crew. All proceeds from sales of the single were donated to the charity set up in the aftermath of the disaster. The recording was organised by '' The Sun'' newspaper, after it had sold cheap tickets for the ferry on that day. "Let It Be" was written by

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

and originally recorded by

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

in 1969.

Recording

Garry Bushell, then with ''The Sun'' newspaper, organised the recording of "Let It Be" by recruiting record producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman. They then put an invitation out to the music industry for artists to contribute their vocals to the song. Although many stars were initially reluctant to join forces with the newspaper, eventually artists such as Boy George,

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the ...

, Gary Moore and Mark Knopfler agreed to take part. Original writer

also contributed to the song, although his performance (and section in the accompanying video) was recorded independently in his own studios. It was later revealed that McCartney used his voice of the original recording of the 1970 Beatles track and added it to the Ferry Aid recording. The song was recorded over three days between 14 and 16 March 1987 and the single was released on 23 March 1987. The first artist to record his part was Mark King (who also played

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

on the song) on the Saturday morning, while the last was Paul King on Monday evening. In the original Beatles recording, George Harrison did the

guitar solo A guitar solo is a melody, melodic passage, instrumental section (music), section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, classical, electric guitar, electric, or acoustic guitar. In 20th and ...

; but for the purposes of this song—as shown in the video—the solo was divided with Gary Moore first, then Mark Knopfler, then back to Gary Moore, with Moore's parts being more 'rock' and Knopfler's being more laid-back.

Performers

The following artists performed solo spots on the song: *

* Boy George * Keren Woodward and

Nick Kamen Ivor Neville "Nick" Kamen (15 April 1962 – 4 May 2021) was a British singer, songwriter and model of mixed Burmese, Irish, Dutch and French descent. He was best known for the singles "Each Time You Break My Heart" from 1986 and "I Promised My ...

* Paul King * Mark King * Jaki Graham * Taffy * Mark Knopfler (guitar solo) * Andy Bell * Pepsi & Shirlie * Mel and Kim * Gary Moore (guitar solo) * Kim Wilde and Nik Kershaw * Edwin Starr * Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot * Ruby Turner *

The closing chorus was sung by an ensemble choir involving many of the soloists as well as other recording artists and celebrities from other fields. The chorus consisted of: * The Alarm, John Altman, Debee Ashby, Al Ashton, Rick Astley, Bananarama, Simon Bates, Alison Bettles, Jenny Blythe, Errol Brown, Miquel Brown, Bucks Fizz, Jay Carly, the Christians, Nick Conway, Linda Davidson, Hazell Dean, Anne Diamond, Difford and Tilbrook, Doctor and the Medics, the Drifters, Drum Theatre, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Roy Gayle, Go West, Carol Hitchcock, Felix Howard, Gloria Hunniford, Imagination, Jenny Jay, Ellie Laine, Annabel Lamb, Stephanie Lawrence, Loose Ends, Linda Lusardi, Ruth Madoc, Bobby McVey, Suzanne Mizzi, the New Seekers, Sadie Nine,

the Nolans The Nolans were an Anglo-Irish girl group formed in Blackpool in 1974, originally known as the Nolan Sisters. They changed their name to The Nolans in 1980. Between 1979 and 1982, they enjoyed a string of hit singles, including ''I'm in the M ...

, Hazel O'Connor, Mike Osman, Su Pollard, Tim Polley, Pamela Power,

Maxi Priest Max Alfred Elliott (born 10 June 1961), known by his stage name Maxi Priest, is a British reggae vocalist of Jamaican descent. He is best known for singing reggae music with an Contemporary R&B, R&B influence, otherwise known as reggae fusion. ...

Princess Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for ...

, Jimmy Pursey, Suzi Quatro, Mike Read, Sally Sagoe, Nejdet Salih, Ray Shell, Mandy Smith, Neville Staple, Alvin Stardust, Steve Strange, Sylvia Tella, Terraplane, Bonnie Tyler, Maria Whittaker, Working Week. The B-side of the 7" single is a gospel version of "Let It Be", made up on the spot by improvising. The 12" single mixed by Burni Adams and Jamie Bromfield has "Let It Be (Mega Message Mix)" on the B-side.

Criticism

The

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

band Chumbawamba anonymously released a

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

of the song, "Scab Aid", a criticism of ''The Sun'' newspaper and the motives of the contributing performers which they regarded as hypocritical.Glasper, Ian (2006) ''The Day the Country Died: a History of Anarcho-punk 1980–1984'', Cherry Red Books, Musician Robb Johnson (who later recorded with Chumbawamba) referenced Ferry Aid in his song "The Herald of Free Enterprise", criticising it for similar reasons.

Chart performance

"Let It Be" reached number one in the UK Singles Chart in its first week on 4 April 1987, and remained at that position for three weeks. It was the 13th best selling single of the year in the UK; it was certified gold for shipping over 500,000 copies. The single was also a number one hit in Norway and Switzerland, and reached the top 10 in several other European countries.

References

External links

* A full list of band members can be seen a
Ferry Aid – Let It Be Images
at Discogs
Ferry Aid Discography at Discogs
only has an incomplete list of band members * Another incomplete list of band members, on th

{{Authority control Charity supergroups 1987 establishments in the United Kingdom Musical groups established in 1987 Musical groups disestablished in 1987 1987 disestablishments in the United Kingdom