Aberdeen professor scores two music number ones!
Professor Mealor wrote the song Wherever You Are for the Military Wives choir (who featured in the BBC2 series The Choir last year) who beat off competition from X-Factor winners Little Mix to hit the number one spot on Christmas Day. Wherever You Are topped the UK singles chart, while Professor Mealor’s album, A Tender Light, remained in the number one spot in the Specialist Classical Album chart for a sixth successive week. This double success rounds off an amazing year for the composer who saw his profile rocket in April when his work Ubi caritas was chosen for the Royal wedding. He then became involved with The Choir through a chance meeting with Gareth Malone at the Classical Brit Awards where the choirmaster asked if he could write a piece for women’s voices. Professor Mealor says, “It was an honour just to be involved with the project but to have made Christmas number one in a pop chart is something that as a classical composer, I never imagined could happen – let alone at the same time my own album is sitting in the top spot in the specialist chart!” Professor Mealor concludes, “2011 has been incredible for me! I still have to pinch myself in the mornings to make sure I'm awake. I never thought, after the Royal Wedding, that I would be involved in something so important again, but The Military Wives and Gareth Malone have taken the Nation's hearts by storm! “I'm so proud and humbled to have written this song which seems to have broken all sorts of records and brought many people joy and peace at Christmas. As a composer you want to share your music and to have secured a double number one, particularly at Christmas, is truly amazing.” Find out more about postgraduate study at the University of Aberdeen. Looking for funding for postgraduate studies in 2012? Check out the exclusive bursaries on offer from Postgrad Solutions. Content added on 16th January 2012. |
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A music professor – Paul Mealor – at the University of Aberdeen hit the number one spot in two music charts at Christmas. This means that the University of Aberdeen Professor in Composition has also become the first composer to reach the number one spot in both the pop and classical charts.