Music stars have come together to record a cover of the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows,” a benefit single that celebrates the launch of BBC Music, a new music initiative.
The 27 artists featured in the track include Pharrell Williams, Sir Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Nicola Benedetti, One Direction, Lorde and Emile Sandé, according to The Guardian. Their collaboration, whose proceeds will go to BBC’s Children in Need annual appeal, ushers in BBC’s new BBC Music, “an ambitious wave of new programmes, innovative partnerships and ground-breaking music initiatives that amount to the BBC’s strongest commitment to music in 30 years,” BBC said.
BBC previously rounded up artists for their 1997 all-star cover of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day,” a wildly successful benefit single that featured artists like Lou Reed himself, Bono, David Bowie and Suzanne Vega. Like “God Only Knows,” the “Perfect Day” single was meant to promote BBC’s music coverage and emphasize that the annual television license fee—charged to all British households using TV to fund BBC—is still, in fact, worth it.
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