Music for Dementia: Tony Christie records Thank You Day Anthem
Tony Christie, who has partnered up with Music for Dementia, sat down with his son Sean to speak exclusively about how his wife Sue has supported him through the illness in an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk.
The Is This The Way To Amarillo singer, who revealed in January that he had been diagnosed with dementia, is calling on the nation to support carers on Thank You Day, which will see hundreds of thousands of people sing in honour of the unsung heroes this Sunday.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, the 80-year-old star spoke about lending his voice to a special recording of Andrew Gold’s Thank You for Being a Friend, which features a group of specially selected carers as well as some huge stars – including Nile Rogers and Sting.
Tony’s family has previously explained how working on the track has been such a “lifeline” for them.
Asked about recording the song, Tony described how thrilled he was to be joined by his wife Sue, as well as his children and grandchildren.
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He said: “A lot of people turned out for it, which was a nice surprise to everyone. It was a really fabulous day – even my wife sang on it!”
The campaign also aims to emphasise the incredibly important role of carers in our society, and Tony was quick to sing his wife’s praises thanks to all the support she’s given him over the years.
“She’s been my biggest fan, my biggest helper and we’ve been married 55 years,” Tony revealed. “She’s my wife and my best friend.”
At this point, Tony’s son and manager Sean added: “Can I just say that when we talk about carers, we talk about paid carers.
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“But it’s just nice to be able to say thank you to these unsung heroes. Sue is one of those unsung heroes.
“We talk about Tony this and Tony that, but we don’t talk about Sue. But she’s the hero here as well.”
“She is,” Tony agreed enthusiastically.
Tony and Sue have been married since 1968 and share three children: Sean, Antonia and Sarah.
The star bravely opened up about his dementia battle earlier this year and told Express.co.uk about how it had been Sue who had first spotted something was wrong.
“She took me to the doctor and they did all the tests on me,” he recalled. “They’ve put me on tablets that have slowed it down,” he added, before issuing a powerful statement about the illness.
“I want to say I’m not ashamed of it,” he said. “Because that’s the thing, people have been ashamed of it in the past. I spoke about it, as well, so that people will go out and get tested for it.”
A mass sing-along courtesy of Music for Dementia will take place this Sunday at 12.55pm on the Michael Ball Show on BBC Radio 2, before ending with a pop-up performance by Tony, Line of Duty’s Vicky McClure and Our Dementia Choir in a secret London location.
Tony’s star-studded recording of Thank You for Being a Friend, which features the likes of Sting and Nile Rogers, is out now and available to listen to and download here.
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