The Northwell Health Nurse Choir, New York, not only got a standing ovation for their mash-up rendition of ‘Lean on Me’ and ‘Stand by Me’, but they also won the Golden Buzzer from Howie Mandel, one of the four judges at AGT’s live auditions.
A new anthem is sending out a powerful message of hope and light in a world engulfed by the dark clouds of a global pandemic. Well, actually, it’s two songs seamlessly blended into one moving melody of compassion and resurgence of faith; a belief that we must all stand together steadfast and strong, because bad times can’t last forever.
As individual creations, the two songs have already proven that music can move people far beyond anything imaginable and touch deep chords in the human soul.
And when these songs fuse together in a mash-up – that’s the current rage of blending lyrics and melodies of two songs into one – you have a beautifully incomparable song; something far more powerful and greater than the sum of their individual parts.
The Northwell Health Nurse Choir, New York, have recently done just that – with a resounding message that all is not lost because hope never dies.
The Choir recently brought the house down as well as the golden confetti, when they gave an outstanding performance on the America’s Got Talent (AGT) live audition.
They not only got a standing ovation for their absolutely smashing, mash-up rendition of ‘Lean on Me’ and ‘Stand by Me’, but they also won the Golden Buzzer from judge Howie Mandel.
Before pressing the Golden Buzzer, Mandel said: “One word comes to mind; it’s heroic! And what a perfect song, ‘Stand by Me’! You stand by people you don’t know”.
The Golden Buzzer fetches the choir a cash prize of $1 million with a direct entry into the finals and a live performance at Las Vegas.
Their song had a two-in-one message. On the one hand they reassure their patients to “Lean on me, when you’re not strong; And I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry on” – (Lines from a 1972 perennial classic “Lean on Me”, by American Soul and Blues singer / songwriter Bill Withers).
On the other hand towards the close of the song, there is a poignant appeal for the support and solidarity of people as they sing : “If the sky that we look upon should tumble and fall; And the mountains should crumble to the sea, I won’t cry, I won’t cry, no I won’t shed a tear; Just as long as you stand, stand by me” – (A 1961 rock classic ‘Stand by Me’ sung by American Ben E. King.
In more recent times an equally popular version has been sung by late John Lennon, one of the foursome that made up the Beatles).
Before pressing the Golden Buzzer, Mandel said: “One word comes to mind; it’s heroic! And what a perfect song, ‘Stand by Me’! You stand by people you don’t know”.
Winnie Melee one of the senior members of the choir, a professional nurse for the last 41 years, says “What makes us so special is that we’re all frontline nurses; we’re not professional singers”.
Winnie says “It’s been a very dark and trying
time for all of us, but the one thing
that’s bringing us a little bit of light and hope is music”, she adds.
Of the difficulties they face on a daily basis, Winnie says: “The hardest part was taking care of patients left completely alone by their families. So we became their family”.
Another depressing side of this whole situation: “I’d come home and I was so afraid to hug my own kids, when that was the only thing I really wanted to do”, recalls Winnie, fighting back her tears.
Comparing it to another difficult situation, Winnie says: “I’ve lived through the AIDs epidemic, but everybody didn’t die in three months”.
Emanuel Remilus, a male nurse and choir member says: “After everything we have been through during the pandemic, we want to show that together we can rise up, we can support each other and we can get through any challenge we may face”.
Remembering the worst times when people were dying in large numbers, Emanuel says: “Caring for Covid patients is so different to anything else we’ve known in the past. We were so scared. One patient became 10, then 100 and 1000; nobody knew how many patients Covid would kill”.
Other choir members also reflected on what it was like to care for people who fell sick during the pandemic and how each of them stepped in to comfort these patients who were left alone in recovery.
They’ve had to be strong for others during one of the toughest times that the world has ever seen.
Coming on stage to sing and win in such a spectacular way shows the resilience, courage and strength of these frontline nurses to stand firm and show the world what music can do.
Michael Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health says: “After serving on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic, Northwell is proud to support these nurses as they continue to spread joy with their voices, while healing themselves. I am immensely proud of our Nurse Choir and what they represent”.
The Northwell Nurse Choir’s journey began in 2020 when they came togethervvirtually to support Nurse Heroes—a nonprofit initiative to help solve the global nurse shortage by raising awareness and providing much needed funds for nursing scholarships.
Another Northwell spokesperson says: “Our singing Northwell nurses didn’t know each other before joining their voices to support Nurse Heroes—they came from different hospitals, nursing specialties and areas of New York. The power of music lifted their spirits and helped them forge a special bond, as the COVID-19 pandemic has been especially challenging for nurses.
The two songs ‘Stand by Me’ by Ben E. King (1961) and ‘Lean on Me’ by Bill Withers are extraordinary in themselves with a string of achievements and records.
In 2012, royalties from the song Stand by Me’ were estimated to be around $22 million,making it the sixth largest earning song at the time. King co-wrote the song Jerry Schiller and Mike Stoller.
Over 400 artists have recorded their versions of this song, including Otis Redding, John Lennon and Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali).
Bill Wither’s ‘Lean on Me’ is ranked among the 500 greatest songs of all time, according to ‘Rolling Stones’
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