Leeds musician Luke Flear's NHS tribute song goes from strength to strength

Singer-songwriter Luke Flear, 18, of Barwick-in-Elmet, penned his track Keep Fighting On three weeks ago as a tribute to those working on the frontline in the battle with Covid-19, with all proceeds going towards NHS Charities Together.

The song is available on all major streaming sites and its accompanying video has been viewed over 25,000 times so far across YouTube and Facebook.

Luke also launched a fundraising page to run alongside the song and its current total stands at over £2,200 - smashing his original target of £500.

The talented former Garforth Academy pupil told the Yorkshire Evening Post he has been overwhelmed with the reaction to his song.

He said: "I tried to challenge myself to try and write down how I felt about everything. I was at the piano until midnight writing the song and I decided last minute to get everyone to hear it and try and raise some money.

"The reaction has been really amazing. Obviously your dream is that you put a song out and it goes viral and raises millions but at the end of the day, the audiences I've got so far, the reaction has been quite huge to me, considering it had not even been written a month ago."

And it is hoped his song will reach an even wider audience - and raise more money - after it was chosen as the backing music to a Leeds ballet school's heartwarming lockdown video.

Youngsters from Katie Turner School of Dance, based in Aberford and Hambleton, have put together a fun video of the 'passing' a ballet shoe to each other, as Luke's song plays in the background.

Since it was uploaded onto Facebook, the video has attracted over 3,000 views so far.

Katie Turner, who runs the school and is a family friend of Luke's, said: "I knew he had written the song to help the NHS so I asked if I could use it and help share it.

"I had seen football teams do videos passing toilet rolls and thought 'what can we do?'

"On the first day it got 1,600 views and now it's at 3,000.

"I was just trying to bring everyone together, and support a local artist and get his song out there to raise money for charity - as well as having something that the children can keep and say 'that's what we did'. A memory that they can look back on and smile about and hopefully not think of the bad times but think of the nice times."

Keep Fighting On by Luke Flear can be found on Facebook, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music and iTunes. You can donate to his fundraising page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/luke-flear-music4nhs.

To view the Katie Louise School of Dance's video click here or search 'Katie Turner' on Facebook for the public post.

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