Imagine being an up-and-coming band asked to do a cover of your favourite classic rock song by the original artist. This is the concept of the fourth new charity album by War Child called Heroes.
War Child was started in 1999 to help children in war-torn nations such as Sudan, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Lisa Zbitnew, the executive producer of the record, said War Child has always had a close tie with the entertainment industry.
“There were a few patrons from the entertainment sector that helped us out, specifically David Bowie, and since then War Child has always had a very tight relationship with the music community and the entertainment community,” Zbitnew said. “A lot of the fundraising for the charity is through charity records, benefit concerts.”
The heroes that work with War Child every day inspired the charity album and its title, Zbitnew said.
“It’s about the real life heroes that do the work for War Child and it ties in with the musical heroes that we all know and they take that torch and pass it off to the younger generation of musicians,” Zbitnew said.
It was not hard to get artists to contribute to this 16-track album. Zbitnew had already worked with many of these artists when she was the president and CEO of Sony BMG Music Canada.
“One of the first artists we reached out to was Bob Dylan, who chose Beck . . . and things sort of continued from there,” Zbitnew said.
Since released on March 3 in North America, it has taken off in popularity. It opened on iTunes as the fifth most downloaded album of the day and it continues to raise tens of thousands of dollars for War Child. It will be released in Japan and South America later in the year.
This was not the first time War Child has done an album like this. They also did a Québécois version called Héros that featured Québec artists covering songs by Québec greats such as Celine Dion.
Zbitnew was shocked to see the willingness of the artists while covering the songs.
“Everybody donated their time, nobody charged, the musicians worked for free, the studios donated the time for free such as Abbey Road in the United Kingdom,” Zbitnew said.
Zbitnew said many artists had such a positive experience they would now like to be more involved with War Child.
“We have already had some artists on this record come back and offer their services to do fundraising events for the charity,” Zbitnew said.
Zbitnew said War Child is asking for as much money as possible since the need is so great for War Child around the world, yet the album is only $10.
“Bottom line is that if we can help the charity then we will be doing many more projects like this,” Zbitnew said.
When asked about her view of the record, Zbitnew said she loves it.
“I’ve listened to it about 2,000 times and I don’t hate it yet,” Zbitnew said.