A NORTH EAST musician is releasing his own version of an iconic song in aid of NHS Charities Together, after being given the green light by Dire Straits’ frontman, Mark Knopfler. Mark Deeks has spent more than 20 years working as musical director, pianist and teacher and while under lockdown has tried to generate income for himself by putting up some Pop Up Piano concerts on Facebook
Those concerts included Mark’s own piano version of Dire Straits’ classic song, Local Hero, which is also used by Newcastle United when the players run out on the pitch.
The sessions have proven so popular that Mark launched a special Pop Up Piano even for NHS workers every Thursday, which led to him being invited on to a local radio station to talk about it.
“The station played my version of Local Hero in the background while I was talking and people were ringing up to see where they could buy it,” said Mark.
“So I decided to get in touch with Mark Knopfler’s management to see if I could release it to raise money for the NHS Charities Together and they came back and said yes – which is absolutely amazing.
The single has just been released and is already getting a huge amount of support via social media, but Mark is hoping to spread the word even further.
“I am extremely grateful to Mark Knopfler for allowing me to do this and I’m hoping I can raise a huge amount of money for this great cause,” he said.
The download is available to buy at: https://markdeeksmusic.com/product/local-hero-piano-nhs/
At the same time Mark is also fund raising on behalf of his own charity, Sing United Foundation, which is a community choir initiative which helps raise money for a range of charities linked to whatever themes the group is singing about.
In the past this has included giving to Newcastle’s People’s Kitchen linked with songs around Power to the People and supporting RNLI Blyth when the theme was Rivers Pride.
Anyone wanting to support the Sing United Foundation can do so via Just Giving. People who want to donate more than the minimum £3 at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/singunitedfoundation