Breaking 3 came to the studio tonight and played four tracks live. Greg Goulding, Sophie Griffiths and Will Packham met at St. Martins’s school and have only been playing together for around a month. They are all aged sixteen years. Already they have had a number of gigs. They share a love of classic Motown and Soul, along with some contemporary artists. This was reflected in their music choices tonight.
We remembered the Live Aid concert on July 13th 1985, estimated to have been watched by 1.9 billion people. Christy e-mailed in to say he still has 17 hours of recordings on VHS from the show! Adrian Cronauer passed away during the week. His was the true story behind the film Good Morning Vietnam and the famous radio greeting. Carlos Santana was celebrating his birthday today and we featured his music. Legendary guitarist Duane Eddy has announced three concert in the UK. He had hits spanning 28 years. We asked listeners to guess his age, which is 80. Clearly you are never too old to rock and roll!
Tonight’s playlist
Marvin Gaye – I heard it through the grapevine
Stevie Wonder – I wish
Breaking 3 – House of the rising sun, Paradise, Help, Running. This was alive set in the studio.
Martha Reeves & the Vandellas – Nowhere to run – from the soundtrack of the film ‘Good morning Vietnam’.
Four Tops – Reach out, I’ll be there
U2 – Love is stronger
Jennifer Rush – The power of love – requested by Patrick – this track sold 1,450,000 singles in the UK and was the biggest selling single of the 1980s.
Cliff Richard – Wired for sound – requested by Phyl
Quincy Jones – Soul Bossanova
Santana – Smooth, She’s not there
Live Aid 85 – Queen – Is this the world we created? – Radio Ga Ga, Elton John & Kiki Dee – Don’t go breaking my heart – live with an introduction of the band.
Lisa Harman – All the way to Utopia
Duane Eddy – Because we are young, Rebel rouser.
Beach Boys – I get around – from the soundtrack of Good morning Vietnam.
Carrie Underwood – Wasted
ECHO – Thinking of you – check out on Facebook their regular gigs in Romford.
Goodbye Look – Eye to eye. Check out on Facebook news about the band.
You can find Breaking 3 busking regularly in Chelmsford this summer.
Next week my studio guest will be Canon Edward Carter from Chelmsford Cathedral. 
Stevie Wonder – Village Ghetto land, Another star – form the album Songs in the key of life
Bill Hayley _ Rock around the clock. Shake , rattle and roll. Just good time music from birthday boy Bill. How can you not sing along?
Spandau Ballet – Gold. True. Birthday boy John Keeble on drums.
Shadows – Apache – Another birthday boy. Jet playing base guitar.
Kate Nash – Mouthwash – the final of our artists born on 6th of July.
Joanne and Simon recently returned from three months in Kenya. Part of the time was spent volunteering at the Salvation Army church in Kibera, which is a slum on the outskirts of Nairobi. They were particular struck by the way that the people in the slums had very little, yet always approached life with gratitude and many with a strong faith. They were also struck with Nairobi being large and very noisy, with some stark contrasts between shiny new executive apartment buildings and the hovels that are living areas in the slums, which residents have to rent. The charity had originally been set up following a small group of families from the Chelmsford Salvation Army travelling to see an officer who had previously been in Chelmsford. Since then they have been involved in a number of projects. That latest is to assist in marketing wire and bead animals made by a group of mothers, Very kindly they gave Jonty an elephant and I had an ostrich. They are looking for events where they could set up a stall and sell these to raise money to be sent back. Simon commented on how amazed the mothers had been to set up a bank account.
Bryan Adams – Everything I do, I do for you – requested by Patrick and one of the biggest selling singles ever, number one in numerous countries.
Ian Perryman joined us this evening and sang three original songs. He also sang a song by his inspiration, John Denver and two 1960s covers. He told us how he began singing publicly and writing his own material. Find our more about him on www.ianperrymanmusic.com. He can be heard regularly in The Rose and Crown in Wivenhoe and also around the Colchester and Clacton areas at open mike events. His music can be downloaded from soundcloud and iTunes. In the second hour we heard from Chris. She appeared on the show a few weeks back and talked about running the Brighton marathon last Sunday. This was her first marathon. She ran along with two teaching colleagues from her school. The children had decided they should run to raise money for the Red Cross. To date they have raised over two thousand pounds. Donations can be added by accessing the Red Cross page, then Brighton Marathon. She said that after the event her first reaction was “never again!” By Monday morning she was thinking about the next marathon. She felt that taking part may well be addictive.
Marina sang three songs live tonight Alfie Clark aged 10 sang live and talked about Easter at Ingatestone Junior School. Tim Lee told us about the celebrations for Good Friday held this morning in the town centre in Brentwood, with over four hundred people and a dramatized re-enactment of the first Good Friday. He also talked about the service he had taken at Mountnessing school about an empty Easter egg. Adrian, chaplain at Brentwood school, explained about the services for Easter that were held before the pupils had their Easter holidays, so this focussed on Palm Sunday. He also told us about last Friday being in Ypes in Belgium and how moving an experience that was for all concerned. Marina sang her three songs and talked about the importance of the resurrection in her own life. John spoke on the phone about an event happening at Emmanuel church Billericay on Easter Saturday afternoon, where they are having a Messy church for Easter. Apparently the tomb is a bread roll. Jesus is a jelly baby and the stone across the entrance to the tomb is a rich tea biscuit! Sue, who lives with husband Jim in Colorado Springs, but had worked for eight years in Cyprus, explained about the multicultural character of the church in Larnaca where she worshiped and about how they worked with refugees and others on the edge of the society. She also said the church back in Colorado Springs regularly has 7,000 attenders on a Sunday morning. We have never had such a packed show! Jonty was back as well. We had lots of e-mails saying that Alfie was a star.
Number 3 is Van Morrison with 55 million sales across a career of 46 years,
No 2 is Enya. Her career has been 27 years and she has sold over 80 million.
Way ahead at number one are U2. With a thirty seven year career they have sales of a staggering 170 million world wide. I asked listeners to guess how many were their sales. Rene came close with 200 million. Chris wrote, ‘no idea how many…zillions!’
Rev. Penny joined me to talk about her innovative role, unique in the C. of E. She works alongside parishes in mid-Essex to help then think about how to turn things around. She talked about coming from a household with atheist parents, yet always feeling she had faith. Her grandmother and schooling were significant influences. After having six children, she felt the call to ordained ministry, which was a surprise to no-one who knew her. She came to her post having been previously an incumbent in east London. She clearly loves all she does. Two of her music choices were songs she sang to her children when they were babies. The other was part of her only playlist when she was at university. You can decided which is which.
We also featured two tracks from the phenomenal album Rumours. Released in 1977, in the UK top 50 albums and USA BIllboard 200 albums this week. By March 78 there were world-wide sales of 10 million. By 1980 13 million. By 2013 40 million and still it sells. Now 722 weeks on the UK album chart. It is the 11th best selling album in the UK of all time and the 6th in USA, with no hint of stopping.
Fiona and Ian from the Brentwood School’s Christian Worker Trust joined me in the studio this evening. Ian said the roll of the organisations was to be of service to the schools on behalf of the churches in Brentwood. He told us they work in many schools across the sectors in Brentwood and also in Ongar and Margaretting. Assembles are taken, assistance given to religious education and clubs are run. This includes running workshops leading to Christmas and Easter. Providing prayer spaces was also important in the rush and pressure of contemporary life. The trust also provide chaplains for schools, who are able to listen to listen to young people and help them address problems. More information about the trust can be found on www.bscwt.org, office@bscwt.org. Ian told us how he will be running in the Brentwood Half-marathon on the 18th of March to raise money for the trust. He has never run a half marathon before!