Latitude 2019
Low Down
Following their show-stopping performance of Stand By Me at the Royal Wedding on 19 May 2018, The Kingdom Choir have signed a major record deal with
Sony Music UK. Managed by Professor Jonathan Shalit OBE at InterTalent, the record label beat off stiff competition to sign the highly sought-after collective.
The Kingdom Choir have just finished recording their debut album which is set for a global release on Friday 26 October 2018. The album will include the choir’s much-loved rendition of Stand By Me, which went straight in at Number 1 on the Billboard Gospel Songs Chart, and showcases the pure joy and spiritual essence that runs through all of their performances.
Review
Happy Sunday everyone! The Kingdom Choir woke us all up as they opened the Obelisk Stage on the last day of this year’s Latitude Festival. Their joyful, energetic songs combined with a profusion of sunlight to get the crowds dancing to pop favourites and some more traditional gospel numbers.
If you haven’t heard of the Kingdom Choir then you must have been living in a cave for the past year. They are the gospel group who have taken the world by storm since performing in Windsor at the wedding of Prince Harry and Megan Markle. Album deals, world tours, TV appearances; this small choir from South London have gone stratospheric.
Their fame is well deserved, and my goodness can this small group of singers make some noise. Dressed in pinks and oranges, the multi-cultural choir treated the audience to some stone-cold classics. An Aretha Franklin medley had everyone boogying around the field, as did a gospel arrangement of Beyonce’s Halo.
Their director, Karen Gibson, with her fantastic silver hairdo, also ensured that amongst the crowd pleasing numbers, we were also introduced to some Gospel classics – a highlight being a brilliant African spiritual, and of course the sing along favourite that is Oh Happy Day.
Most of the performers took turns to sing the lead and all were confident, with powerful voices that leapt up and down the scales in true gospel style. Their energy was infectious, and there was a happy hum of recognition when the bars began for Stand By Me, which of course was the anthem song for the royal wedding.
It was a feel good show with music you could sing along to, and everyone of all ages was loving it. I could have danced for another hour at least and left the performance feeling uplifted. This was certainly the stand out gig of the festival for me.
