Amanda Holden has released a cover of Somewhere Over The Rainbow to help raise money for the NHS, during the current COVID-19 crisis.
The Britain’s Got Talent judge, 49, will be releasing an album going forward, but wanted to lift one of the tracks from it to support those on the frontline battling the global virus, as it’s a cause close to her heart.
Amanda – who judges BGT alongside Simon Cowell – told MailOnline this week that she played the music boss the whole album one day at his house – but that his response was pleasantly surprising.
Songstress: Amanda Holden has released a cover of Somewhere Over The Rainbow to help raise money for the NHS, during the current COVID-19 crisis
‘I spent an excruciating afternoon playing him the album,’ she recalled. ‘Obviously I wondered what he’d think but he was actually embarrassingly complimentary which was even worse. I was waiting for dry comments from him to be honest!’
Amanda admitted she hadn’t thought she would release her Somewhere Over The Rainbow cover – which she releases in conjunction with M&S campaign All In This Together – but that it was the perfect fit for the current health crisis.
‘With the children’s drawings in windows right now… the rainbow symbol has been adopted in what’s going on right now and I just thought this would be a great way to raise money,’ she explained. ‘All money will be going to NHS Charities Together. I am very passionate and always have been about the NHS.
‘They have been there for myself, my son Theo, my sister. They’ve saved my sister’s life after she was in a car accident. I feel like I owe them so much. I feel like we all owe them a debt now and of course for the future to come.
Not so scary: Amanda – who judges BGT alongside Simon Cowell – told MailOnline this week that she played the music boss the whole album one day at his house – but that his response was pleasantly surprising
A cause close to her heart: The Britain’s Got Talent judge, 49, will be releasing an album going forward, but wanted to lift one of the tracks from it to support those on the frontline battling the global virus
‘And they are finally having a light completely shone on them which makes us realise how completely lucky we are to have them.
‘And I hope that lasts. I hope that loads of things happening now are still considered on the other side of the rainbow. The love, hope, appreciation and reflection we get from this downtime.’
Amanda lost her son Theo in 2011 when he was stillborn – a tragedy she has opened up about in order to help others since. She also suffered a complicated birth just a year later when she gave birth to her daughter Hollie. She slipped into a four-day coma after the placenta attached itself to a main artery and left her haemorrhaging.
Inspiring: Amanda admitted she hadn’t thought she would release her Somewhere Over The Rainbow cover – which she releases in conjunction with M&S campaign All In This Together – but that it was the perfect fit for the current health crisis
Mentor: ‘I spent an excruciating afternoon playing Simon the album,’ she recalled. ‘Obviously I wondered what he’d think but he was actually embarrassingly complimentary which was even worse. I was waiting for dry comments from him to be honest!’
‘I am of course so behind the weekly clapping for the NHS,’ she added, and recounted her time working on 2009 series Out Of My Depth, which saw her spend five weeks learning about the role of the midwife.
‘I helped deliver 11 babies and met incredible women who have since become my lifelong friends,’ she said of the midwives she worked with on the series, Jackie Nash, Pippa Nightingale and Natalie Carter, who rushed to be with her when Theo was born sleeping two years later. ‘I will literally do anything for them, I have seen first-hand what they do. They are so hardworking.’
Amanda is first-and-foremost a trained actress and singer, having attended Mountview drama school in London, training in musical theatre, and admitted she likes to keep up with her creative side in order to ‘be worthy’ of her seat behind the BGT desk.
Life-changing experience: ‘I am of course so behind the weekly clapping for the NHS,’ she added, and recounted her time working on 2009 series Out Of My Depth, which saw her spend five weeks learning about the role of the midwife
Lockdown life: Other than cooking from scratch, Amanda explained that she’s using the home time to make sure she runs every day to keep healthy – but that she also balances things out by getting her rosé fix
‘Mountview taught us to do everything, which meant we were more likely to be employed,’ she said. ‘Sometimes it gets forgotten that I did that. I have to still be prepared to put myself out there. I was once that girl on the stage auditioning. You’ve got to earn your seat.’
Last summer Amanda announced she had landed a record deal with Virgin, after she posted a video to her Twitter page of her rendition of Tightrope from The Greatest Showman. The video, a tribute to husband Chris Hughes, racked up over 1.5million views in two months.
Her album is ready to go – recorded before the pandemic rocked the planet – and so Somewhere Over The Rainbow was already finished.
Signing on the dotted line: Last summer Amanda announced she had landed a record deal with Virgin, after she posted a video to her Twitter page of her rendition of Tightrope from The Greatest Showman
Popular: There was reportedly a bidding war with the UK’s major recording labels vying to sign her up for a contract after she shared a video of her singing
‘It’s in the bag. So I didn’t have to go into an airing cupboard with a towel on my head to record this single,’ she said. ‘The song is so full of hope. It’s about overcoming adversity. It’s about the clouds parting and the rainbow coming through. It’s about looking forwards.’
M&S has designed a special rainbow T-shirt in support of the NHS, with 100 percent of the profits also going to NHS Charities Together. Amanda has used M&S’s T-shirt design as her inspiration for the single artwork.
Of her time in lockdown, Amanda explained that she has ‘got into the mindset of relishing the downtime’ and that she is enjoying the unique experience of constantly being ‘with my favourite people’.
In the bag! ‘I didn’t have to go into an airing cupboard with a towel on my head to record this single,’ she said, having taped it pre-lockdown
Out now: Somewhere Over The Rainbow can be streamed and downloaded now
She said: ‘I don’t want to sound flippant or shallow. But I am enjoying being in the house I work hard for and never see. I am also loving my garden. It’s nice as we spend time wishing we were off travelling somewhere better.
‘I think I am also a better mum. And I am definitely a better wife!’
Other than cooking from scratch, Amanda explained that she’s using the home time to make sure she runs every day to keep healthy – but that she also balances things out by getting her rosé fix.
‘I have it with ice. So it’s fine. I’m making sure I get my daily dose of H20,’ Amanda assured.
Somewhere Over The Rainbow can be streamed and downloaded now.