Co-written with lifelong friend Jonathan Rusca, the singer-songwriter from the British boyband a1 has released his first song in over ten years!

The colourfully pulsating song filled with smooth vibes is out now on Spotify, Apple, Deezer, iTunes, Amazon, and more!

Read’s previous album, 2017’s Once Upon A December, was a collection of Christmas song covers with the title track taken from the Disney animation film Anastasia.

Prior to 2017, his first solo album Peace At Last was released in 2009.

The Disney-Star-Wars-loving music artist who, among many other theatrical productions, starred in the UK tour production of A Spoonful of Sherman and as Prince Charming in the pantomime Cinderella last winter, has been doing regular live streams on his Instagram since March.

Like many artists on social media, these Insta-Live stories have seen him play the piano (we don’t call him Mr. Piano Man for nothing!), and sometimes guitar (and ukulele!), as he indulges his followers and fans in renditions and requests, showing them much love, care and concern in these difficult times of isolation.

From Disney and film covers, to oldies and classics, and even a song created to pay tribute and celebrate the efforts of British veteran Captain Tom Moore, who helped raise money for NHS UK, Read has perhaps made our days a little brighter.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_DkxEKFSSu/?igshid=1c6mo9fa9svs2

Earlier this month, Read took to social media to request that fans send him videos depicting ‘togetherness’ in this time of lockdown and quarantine, even encouraging them to send him clips of themselves holding up a sign that said ‘Where Were You’ or ‘I Was At Home’. The fans responded.

‘Where Were You (When The World Stopped)’ was released on May 15th, 2020.

The music video released on May 18th featured everything (literally every endearing moment or video) that the fans had sent him.

Said Mark Read of the conceptualisation of the new song:

“A really lovely thing happened just a couple of weeks ago. A lifelong friend of mine. A lovely guy. An old schoolmate called Jonathan Rusca, got in touch with me and said – “How you doin’? Just thinking about you during the lockdown and I’ve written some lyrics. I don’t know if you wanna try putting a melody to them.” He said – “I’ve never written lyrics before. I wouldn’t know how to start putting a song to it.”

He continues:

“And… I loved the lyrics. And the melody just came to me really fast. So we’ve written it together. We’ve finished it. And I’ve recorded it. And I just wanna get it out to you guys!”

 

 

In the latest update on his Instagram, Read thanked everyone for their support of the new song, and was utmost grateful of how much the song has resonated with them in these uncertain times.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAXgb7klNIB/?igshid=13veuxyvmtbmd

Purchase or Stream the song here.