9 year old Amy J Bannister raises her Flying V guitar and decides to
“Throw Down The Sword” in aid of Cancer Research UK

Amy J Bannister who is a 9 year old avid Queen and Wishbone Ash fan has had a whirlwind year to date. She has met many of her guitar hero’s along the way including Andy Powell, Martin Turner, Laurie Wisefield, Chantel McGregor. The ultimate of course was meeting Brian May at WWRY in August where Brian even commented that “Amy J is a good musical artist name as it rolls of the tongue”.

She has been learning to play the guitar since her seventh birthday, and now at the ripe old age of 9 and a half, she has just released her first single, written and recorded by one of her favourite bands back in 1972 and featured on the amazing and highly acclaimed “Argus” album, by Wishbone Ash. Amy even got to play and sing the song on stage with Wishbone Ash in a sound-check at a recent gig

This time the arrangement recording and supporting instruments were all handled by her guitar teacher Mr Martin Dick Dastardly-Aston who is a highly accomplished musician and recording engineer in his own right.

“Throw Down The Sword” is an epic and moving song by progressive rock band Wishbone Ash and the lyrics written by Martin Turner nearly 40 years ago could easily have been penned with Cancer Research UK in mind as the relevance is somewhat uncanny.

Amy plays the intro, the rhythm chordal sequences and the majority of the final guitar solo in her new version of “Throw Down The Sword”. Mid-way through the song she enters into her lead vocals and sings the immortal chorus-line “…..There were times when I stood at deaths own door, only hoping/searching for an answer”. We are all acutely aware that this is exactly how Cancer sufferers must feel when such news is broken to them by their consultants.

Cancer affects most of the population is some way and Amy is no exception having already lost her Grandfather to the disease in 2006 and her other Grandfather is currently fighting 3 different strains of the disease. “….it was a natural choice” says Amy “especially with several of my own family having had the illness”. She goes on to say “recording was a lot harder work than I thought but I also really enjoyed it and I love the result, and Martin also made me laugh a lot ‘cos he kept pulling faces at me when I was singing !”.

Amy’s goal is to sell a few million CD’s and raise enough money to feel like she could have made a difference. The CD is available from several outlets in her home town, Chesterfield, Derbyshire or directly via her website – please visit the shop page on www.amy-j.com where the new version of the classic song can be ordered as a fully packaged CD for either UK or International shipping or even as an MP3 download. All proceeds from any of the transactions for the single will go to Cancer Research UK.

Invitation is made for any support that may be on offer from individuals or businesses alike, whether that be a simple single order, sponsorship towards production costs, an offer to sell or promote the CD in some way, or a simple donation. Please contact suebannhome@aol.com in the first instance.

Cancer Research UK is a registered UK charity no: 1089464

Amy J with Brian.

© Copyright 2005 by QueenWorld.com

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