Chris Kamara… Fandemonium!
Interview: Chris ‘Kammy’ Kamara
Published on May 16th, 2012 | Jonny Abrams
Yes, really! Here at Rocksucker we love our football, so we caught up with Sky Sports hero Chris ‘Kammy’ Kamara for a quick chat about music as he prepares for the 3rd June release of his official, FA-approved Euro 2012 song “Sing 4 England”, the proceeds of which shall be going to Marie Curie Cancer Care. Tune in to Soccer AM this Saturday to watch Chris perform the song live, but first check out the video and learn all the words in time for next month’s tournament…
Would you like to have been a musician if you hadn’t gone into football?
(Laughs) I like to sing a song every now and then, so wouldn’t that be a great career? My career’s great now anyway because I can do all these sorts of things, do a bit on the TV and get involved in everything off the field.
Are any of your Soccer Saturday team mates good singers?
Charlie Nicholas can hold a tune. Merse can’t, he’s tone deaf. Jeff’s tone deaf, Thommo’s tone deaf, Le Tiss is tone deaf, so it’s just me and Charlie that can sing!
I think a Soccer Saturday barbershop group is what everyone would like to see.
(Laughs) That’s the next thing! Obviously if this is successful then we should think about what to bring out next.
What’s your karaoke song of choice?
I always sing “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison.
(And here’s the proof!)
What kind of music inspired you during your playing days?
I’m a really big Elton John fan, to be honest. He’s one of my all-time heroes. I love some of his songs, like “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues”, “Your Song”, “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” – they’re all classics that I absolutely love. I love the piano, love listening to people who can play the piano, like Michael Bublé and all that sort of stuff. They’re my heroes.
Do you play any instruments yourself?
No I don’t, actually, which is very disappointing. I’d love to play the piano. My life would be complete!
Do you ever think about learning?
I don’t have the time! I don’t have enough time in my life as it is, never mind adding something to it. I’ve just added golf to it in the last twelve months and it’s killed off a lot of other things that I used to do.
Did you consider approaching Dion Dublin about laying down some Dube on “Sing 4 England”?
I’ve done a track with Dion Dublin before – we sang “Summertime” on a CD years ago, the George Gershwin number. He played the saxophone and I sang it. Now like you say he’s got the drums and the sax has been buried away, but yeah we should have thought about getting Dubes on the drums.
Are there any current bands or solo artists that you like?
(Mulls it over) I’m out of date with that sort of stuff, to be honest with you. Just the old fogies for me, Rod Stewart and all the old boys!
Finally, if you were forced to spend the rest of your days in solitary confinement, but were allowed to bring the entire works of five different artists along to tide you over, whose would you choose?
Elton John, Van Morrison, Michael Bublé… I’d have to take a bit of Elvis with me, it would be a shame not to do that. And then maybe The Beatles.
Chris Kamara, thank you.
“Sing 4 England” (feat. Joe Public Utd) will be released on June 3rd through Mcasso Digital’s 12th Man Records. 100% of Chris’s proceeds will go to Marie Curie Cancer Care. For more information, please visit sing4england.net, @Sing4Eng on Twitter or the official Sing 4 England Facebook page.
The song is currently available on Pre-Order at iTunes, and with all Pre-Order sales contributing to the first week of release, Marie Curie have launched their Facebook Kammy Kampaign to get all England fans to pre-order the track to get Chris Kamara to number 1 in the charts on June 10th.
About the Author
Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.
