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The Soldiers’ album marches towards the top of the music charts
With their war stories and medals they do not fit the stereotype of the average pop band. But the Soldiers will make history this weekend when they rub shoulders in the charts with Michael Jackson and Cheryl Cole and become the first serving soldiers to have a hit album.
Sergeant-Major Gary Chilton, Sergeant Richie Maddocks and Lance Corporal Ryan Idzi are virtually guaranteed a place in the Top Five of the album chart with their first record, Coming Home, which mixes classic tracks such as Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven, with original compositions.
Sergeant-Major Chilton, 41, and Sergeant Maddocks, 37, served in the Gulf War and are members of the Corps of Army Music, while Lance Corporal Idzi, who at 24 is the youngest in the group, saw active service in Iraq and Afghanistan with the 20th Armoured Brigade and reached the boot camp stage of The X Factor, the ITV talent show, in 2007.
The trio, who have more than 50 years of service between them, hope the record will raise more than £100,000 for the Army Benevolent Fund, Help For Heroes and the Royal British Legion.
With Lance Corporal Idzi based in Germany and his two colleagues in Britain, they had to fit recording the album around their leave, using spare evenings and new technology to record some parts individually. Sergeant Maddocks, who was awarded the Gulf Medal after serving as a medical assistant in the first Gulf War, said the Army had been “hugely supportive” in allowing the trio to release the record.
He said the men had been humbled by the support from the public, adding: “I guess it’s resonating because of what’s going on in the world. Public support for the Armed Forces at the moment is brilliant, and I think that’s why people are buying this record.”
The group will sing at the Festival of Remembrance, which is due to be screened on BBC One next Saturday. Dan Chalmers, managing director of the group’s record label, Rhino UK, a subdivision of Warner, said: “The overriding fact is that they are great singers and they inspire the public. The fact that they are soldiers really seems to resonate. Their music is songs that are special to the guys, songs that they feel would inspire the troops on the front line. The essence of the album is songs of brotherhood.”
With their war stories and medals they do not fit the stereotype of the average pop band. But the Soldiers will make history this weekend when they rub shoulders in the charts with Michael Jackson and Cheryl Cole and become the first serving soldiers to have a hit album.
Sergeant-Major Gary Chilton, Sergeant Richie Maddocks and Lance Corporal Ryan Idzi are virtually guaranteed a place in the Top Five of the album chart with their first record, Coming Home, which mixes classic tracks such as Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven, with original compositions.
Sergeant-Major Chilton, 41, and Sergeant Maddocks, 37, served in the Gulf War and are members of the Corps of Army Music, while Lance Corporal Idzi, who at 24 is the youngest in the group, saw active service in Iraq and Afghanistan with the 20th Armoured Brigade and reached the boot camp stage of The X Factor, the ITV talent show, in 2007.
The trio, who have more than 50 years of service between them, hope the record will raise more than £100,000 for the Army Benevolent Fund, Help For Heroes and the Royal British Legion.
With Lance Corporal Idzi based in Germany and his two colleagues in Britain, they had to fit recording the album around their leave, using spare evenings and new technology to record some parts individually. Sergeant Maddocks, who was awarded the Gulf Medal after serving as a medical assistant in the first Gulf War, said the Army had been “hugely supportive” in allowing the trio to release the record.
He said the men had been humbled by the support from the public, adding: “I guess it’s resonating because of what’s going on in the world. Public support for the Armed Forces at the moment is brilliant, and I think that’s why people are buying this record.”
The group will sing at the Festival of Remembrance, which is due to be screened on BBC One next Saturday. Dan Chalmers, managing director of the group’s record label, Rhino UK, a subdivision of Warner, said: “The overriding fact is that they are great singers and they inspire the public. The fact that they are soldiers really seems to resonate. Their music is songs that are special to the guys, songs that they feel would inspire the troops on the front line. The essence of the album is songs of brotherhood.”
