Professional singer Richard Hadfield (formerly of the vocal group Collabro) has been releasing his ‘Song A Day Keeps Corona Away’ videos every day for over two months on Instagram and YouTube, raising the spirits of music lovers during lockdown and inspiring a Crowdfunder campaign for a tour of live shows, from which half of profits will go to charities.
With more than 200,000 views of nearly 80 daily videos since the project started, the most popular choice with fans has been The Confrontation from Les Misérables – featuring Richard duetting with himself as both Javert and Valjean, which was no easy task to film! Other musical theatre and film favourites include Till I Hear You Sing from Love Never Dies and You’ll Be In My Heart from Tarzan (a duet with Richard’s brother James), and pop and rock hits such as Just The Two Of Us and A Thousand Years have gone down well.
Originally, Richard filmed the videos on a phone camera but in order to bring a more professional sound to his listeners he decided to start a Crowdfunder campaign which would enable him to upgrade his home studio. Richard says he was “completely blown away” by his supporters’ generosity as his initial £2,000 fundraising goal was surpassed within 12 hours. Having been heartened and encouraged by donors’ comments about how much joy and comfort his music was bringing them during these difficult times, Richard was inspired to set a revised £10,000 fundraising goal. If Richard reaches this target, he will be able to bring his music live to audiences on tour once venues reopen, and also to give back to the community by donating 50% of tour profits to charity (to be split between Music Minds Matter and Age UK).
For more information about Richard’s Crowdfunder campaign, which closes on 1 July, visit: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/song-a-day-keeps-corona-away.
Richard who originally hails from Sussex, but now lives Mitcham in South West London, found fame winning the ITV television show Britain’s Got Talent with musical theatre vocal group Collabro. He has since transitioned to a successful solo career, touring the world’s most prestigious jazz clubs.
He said: “I started recording my videos for ‘Song A Day Keeps Corona Away’ on 23 March, after fully recovering from Coronavirus myself. I was keen to battle the pandemic of loneliness and wanted to do something proactive which would both entertain people at home and allow me to bridge the gap in these isolated times. I’m really proud of the reach of the project, and the feedback of thousands of people who have enjoyed the series all over the world. Hopefully, I’ll be able to able to perform to many of them in person before long.”
For more information about Richard Hadfield, visit: https://www.richardhadfield.london.
