BIG Sing choir set to raise the roof with Rick

BIG Sing choir set to raise the roof with Rick

The BIG Sing choir will join rock star Rick Wakeman to open CRE Midlands 2023 (10am, Wed 8 Nov, Cranmore Park, Solihull).

Some members of the choir will also talk about their work in local communities and encourage visitors to join them.

BIG Sing was started 12 years ago by Gemma and Howard Francis to get people singing – whether they had a good voice or not – to help them make new friends and entertain others. In fact, there are now BIG Sing groups in many parts of the country with more than 500 members. All ages and all types of music are covered, from gospel to pop.

The project not only gives adults a chance to get together but through its charity, The BIG Sing SOUL, also offers TINY Sing music sessions to babies and tots whilst their parents socialise over a cuppa!

In different formats the choir has appeared with big names like Mica Paris, Ellie Goulding, Leah McFall (from BBC TV’s The Voice) Blake and the London Community Gospel Choir, for whom Gemma and Howard were once members. They have sung for Jamie Oliver, toured with Leona Lewis and were winners of the BBC Songs of Praise Gospel Choir of the Year in 2017.

A charity arm – The BIG Sing SOUL (Sing, Outreach, Unity and Love) – was formed six years ago and has already raised more than £200k for charities.

‘Uniting communities with uplifting and motivating music, inspired by gospel music and teaching, The BIG Sing is more than just a choir. We are a family,’ explained Gemma. ‘Many members have found the choir has helped them through loneliness, depression, grief and illness. It has given them two hours a week to find themselves again.’

She invites anyone interested to come and hear them at CRE Midlands 2023 – ‘so you can sing along and leave happy and uplifted!’

See their performance on Britain’s Got Talent here.

Rick Wakeman will be interviewed by Peter Wooding, son of Dan Wooding, a Christian journalist, author and close friend of Wakeman’s from the late 1960s until his death in March 2020. Wooding wrote a biography of his friend in the 1970s under the title Rick Wakeman: The Caped Crusader.

‘I have many stories about the great man,’ said Wakeman, ‘and some of them I can tell, too! I look forward to playing “Gone, But Not Forgotten” at CRE Midlands – in memory of my dear friend.’

• The BIG Sing will be on stand DS34 at CRE Midlands 2023

Book your ticket for CRE Midlands 2023 here from as little as £3

Organisations looking to book a stand should contact James Batterbee 0161 250 2306 (E: james@creonline.co.uk) or Carol Malpass 0161 250 2467 (E: carol@creonline.co.uk)

Click to view the latest floorplan and price list for available stands