Royal Wedding Choir: The Kingdom Choir Gets Sony Record Deal

The London gospel choir that was watched by millions when it performed at the wedding of Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, is to release a debut album this year after signing a record deal with Sony Music.
The Kingdom Choir, which sang “Stand By Me” at the May 19 nuptials watched by audiences around the world, will go into the studio later this month to begin work on their debut album, which is set for release on 2 November and will include their arrangement of the Ben E King classic.

“It’s wonderful, we really didn’t expect that. We just thought that we’d have a wonderful time at the wedding and maybe have a bit of a platform and then this happens. I would have never have thought it in a million years”, said conductor of the choir, Karen Gibson.
The album will include “Stand By Me”, which the choir also performed outside Kensington Palace on Tuesday July 24 when the record deal was announced.

But how did the choir get the Royal wedding gig?
“I understand that it was Prince Charles who wanted a gospel choir and I believe it was one of his staff knew an ex-member of my choir and that’s how we got the call”, Gibson revealed.
The choir has been performing for more than 20 years but gained global fame with their rendition of the Ben E King hit at the Windsor wedding. Their performance of the song topped the U.S. Hot Gospel Songs chart.

In 2000, they won BBC Radio 2's Minstrels in the Gallery, a competitive festival of religious music. Two years later, they were nominated for best UK Choir at the Oasis Awards.
They have since performed alongside Sir Elton John, Luther Vandross, the Spice Girls and Michael Ball.

The choir also announced a concert in London in late November.

July 26, 2018