The genesis of "
Sing"
came from Annie’s participation
in a South African organization
called
Treatment Action
Campaign, producer
Glenn Ballard explained in an
exclusive interview to Performing
Songwrite. TAC is a group dedicated
to raising public awareness
and providing greater access
to AIDS treatment.
"Unfortunately, there are
many reasons why HIV-infected
individuals in South Africa
can’t get access to the
medicines which might prolong
their lives", Ballard says.
"Annie has become a kind
of spokesperson for this organization;
she really wants to be a voice
for people who don’t have
one".
" Because Annie really
wanted to bring attention to
this issue, we reached out to
these wonderful singers, and
they all said yes immediately.
I ended up recording people
in some of the strangest places:
Shakira in Puerto Rico, Pink
in Zurich,
Madonna
in London. Fortunately, thanks
to the ISDN, I was able to remain
in L.A., but most of the artists
were recorded wherever in the
world they happened to be."
"I d" Lennox explains.
"Because the incidence
of HIV AIDS is on the rise for
women, especially in the pandemic
across the whole of the African
continent, I thought perhaps
I could be of benefit by writing
a song and empowering those
women who do not have an international
voice."
"I thought that if I could
invite other female artists
to join with me, that would
be a really strong statement,
so I sent out a lot of letters
to various artists that I thought
would be appropriate, and they
all came back to me very positively.
I'm so glad they've given me
their voice and their endorsement
of the issue."
"I asked them to join in
the chorus, but
Madonna
sang the second verse as well,"
Annie told the Daily Mail's
"You" magazine - was
that because she just couldn't
bear to play second fiddle?
"No it was really cool
of her," insists Lennox.
"Look, I'll be as mercenary
with this as I need to be. Madonna
has a huge audience, and her
involvment will help to spread
the word wider."
To learn more about "
Sing"
please check Madonna Tribe's
exclusive reports from the past
few weeks by clicking
here.
