U.K. military wives choir vie for Christmas No. 1
CBC News
Posted: Dec 20, 2011 2:42 PM ET
Last Updated: Dec 20, 2011 2:41 PM ET
Members of a military wives' choir sing outside number 10 Downing Street on Dec. 6 before a reception for service personnel held by Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron. The choir's song is on pace to become the Christmas No. 1 in U.K. (Andrew Winning/Reuters )
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An amateur choir made up of military wives of servicemen stationed in Afghanistan is poised to take the Christmas No. 1 honours in Britain.
The British annually watch the top-selling music track for the week of Christmas, with bets laid on the outcome.
For the past seven years, singers featured on Simon Cowell’s reality TV show The X Factor have captured the No. 1 spot. The only time an X Factor winner has failed to be the holiday season chart-topper since the show began was when an online campaign successfully propelled U.S. band Rage Against the Machine to first place in 2009.
This year’s X Factor contender is Little Mix, an all-girl quartet, for the song Cannonball. But the Military Wives Choir, a group pulled together by choirmaster Gareth Malone, is quickly outselling Little Mix six to one.
The lyrics of the choir's Wherever You Are draw from love poems the women exchanged with their absent husbands. Paul Mealor, whose music was performed at the wedding of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, composed the song. The group has performed at Royal Albert Hall in London and been broadcast on the BBC.
Proceeds from the sale of each Military Wives CD will be donated jointly to The Royal British Legion and the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen Families Association.
Wherever You Are, with its heart-tugging message, sold 232,000 copies in the first two days of this week, compared to 38,000 for Cannonball, which topped the U.K. charts last week.
Cowell has already ceded defeat, congratulating Malone and his choir on Twitter.
"Congrats to Little Mix & congrats to Military Wives. It's a great cause & a worthy Christmas No.1," he posted.
The Christmas No. 1, based on the sales and legal downloads during Christmas week, will be announced on Dec. 25.
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