Actor, comedian and writer Matt Lucas has partnered with Absolute Label Services for the release of a reworked version of his famous ‘Baked Potato Song’ as a single with all proceeds going to FeedNHS. All proceeds from the new single will go to FeedNHS during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Baked Potato Song was originally performed by Lucas on the Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer fronted comedy panel show Shooting Stars in the 1990s. It has been rewritten to include key messages about how to avoid spreading and catching COVID-19, urging people to stay at home amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Lucas shared the new version of the song on his Twitter account last week, garnering over 3 million views in just a few days and creating a huge talking point across the country.
Matt says: “The Baked Potato Song was something I sung on Shooting Stars 20 years ago and, in an idle moment on Tuesday night, I rewrote the lyrics and updated them. Baked Potato is always giving good advice, and the new advice in the new version of the song is about washing your hands, staying indoors and only going to grocery stores. I urge everyone to go out and buy the single this week and raise vital money for the FeedNHS campaign.”
FeedNHS is an initiative set up by food chain LEON alongside Lucas, and actors Damien Lewis and Helen McCrory to raise £1 million and get 6,000 meals a day into London hospitals for critical care staff. The campaign will then hopefully roll out across the nation to feed the NHS, with the aim that everyone will get one hot meal a day.
The initiative is in partnership with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and UCLH Healthcare NHS Trust. It is a not for profit movement to deliver food to our heroic workers. Wasabi, Tortilla, Peach Pubs, Rosa Thai, Hop, Pizza Pilgrims, Franco Manca, Farmer J, Tossed, Haché, Abokado, Dishoom and Nusa Kitchen have all joined the effort to help NHS staff, many of whom are already working 20-hour shifts.
A JustGiving page for FeedNHS has been set up and you can donate here.
Founded in 1998, Absolute is one of the world’s most established independent label services companies. It has a varied client base, having worked on high profile album releases from artists and labels including Steps, All Saints, Jake Shears, Kim Wilde, Alice Cooper, The Overtones, 67, Dappy, Ay Em, RAM Records, Ferris & Sylvester, Bananarama and many more in recent years.
