Chertsey choir perform with US rock stars

Jul 27 2010 By Carl Gavaghan

Chertsey's Voice in a Million choir perform with Foreigner

A CHERTSEY choir lived the rock star dream by performing with US rockers Foreigner in front of 40,000 on Saturday.

The Voice in a Million choir accompanied the band as they sang their mega-hit I Want To Know What Love is at the High Voltage Festival in London's Victoria Park.

The choir, which is based out of Colonel's Lane in Chertsey, won a competition ran by ITV News to appear at the festival, being selected from hundreds of entries.

The kids closed the show by coming on through the million-selling song and belting out the chorus in front of their very proud parents.

Robert Garofalo, of Classic Media Group who founded the choir, which now has more 12,000 children involved throughout the UK, said the children had loved the experience.

He said: “The children got to act like they were rock stars for the day and spent the time before the performance backstage with the band who posed for pictures and signed autographs. Many of the children had performed at the O2 arena as soloists in front of 10,000 people and didn't think there would be much difference but they were taken aback when they stepped out in front of 40,000.

“I think it's fair to say that many of the parents, who were given free tickets, knew who the band were more than the children.”

Twenty children were picked to go on stage, with 14 of them being from Chertsey and Surrey. Other acts at the festival included rock icons ZZ Top and Saxon.

“They loved the whole day and for all if us it was a very proud moment,” added Mr Garofalo. The choir has also persuaded two of the members of the supergroup YES, Rick Wakeman an Jon Anderson, to do a set with them at a preview show of their forthcoming UK tour.

This performance will be at the Turks Hall in Addlestone on October 8. For tickets call 01932 561316.