Prince Harry, Sly, Robbie, Ernie Ranglin featured on UK hit song
JAMAICAN music royalty and Britain’s Prince Harry have played on a hit song by Gary Barlow, member of pop group Take That.
Guitar maestro Ernie Ranglin and legendary drum and bass team Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, are featured on Sing, taken from Barlow’s album of the same name.
Prince Harry played tambourine on the single which debuted at number 11 on the United Kingdom pop chart and is expected to take the top spot this weekend.
The album entered the UK album chart at number one, selling over 40,000 copies in its first week.
According to Dunbar, their contribution to Sing was recorded at Gee Jam studios in Portland.
“When Gary reached out to us, we never hesitated to participate in the project,” Dunbar told Splash.
“We met him and his group Take That in the 1990s on the set of the Top of the Pops (television show) in the UK when we performed Twist and Shout with Chaka Demus and Pliers,” Dunbar recalled.
Interestingly, Dunbar and Shakespeare played on the song Want You Back by lovers’ rock singer Singing Melody in 1999.
Want You Back is a cover of Take That’s 1995 hit, Back for Good.
Take That is one of the top-selling British boy groups. They have sold more than 100 million records worldwide and scored 27 UK top 40 hits including eleven number one singles.
Sing was co-written by Barlow and composer extraordinaire Andrew Lloyd Webber. It was recorded at the famed Abbey Road studios in England, as well as Australia, Kenya, Jamaica and the Solomon Islands.
Sing was recorded to celebrate British monarch Queen Elizabeth II’s 60-year reign.
In an interview with Britain’s ITV, Barlow explained how Harry’s cameo materialised.
“We caught him on his last day in Jamaica. We turned up and I asked him would he play on the record and he said, ‘I don’t sing’. But, I said, ‘No, no, I don’t want you to sing. I want you to play the tambourine’.”
The video for Sing details Barlow’s journey across the Commonwealth creating the song. It also includes clips of Prince Harry’s visit to Jamaica in April, and snippets of Sly and Robbie and Ranglin.
