A song writing Spalding landlord and a nine-year-old from Deeping St Nicholas have teamed up for an unlikely musical collaboration.
Young Isaac Corrigan wowed the Royal Mail Cart’s Padraig Hughes at an Open Mic Night recently, so much so he paid for him to go into a professional recording studio to record one of his songs.
Now the song ‘More Important to be Nice’ is on all the major streaming services.
The pair met as part of the All Inclusive Music Project set up by Chris Dark to promote social inclusivity through music, and get people playing together.
He wanted to hold an open mic night and keen musician and music fan Padraig was only too happy to host the fortnightly sessions on a Wednesday.
Chris wanted some of the sessions to be for all ages, which is what attracted keen singer Isaac and his mum Emma along.
“He’d sang karaoke once before and absolutely loved it, so when we saw an open mic night that encouraged children to attend we thought we’d give it a go,” she said. “He got up to sing and the reaction he got was fantastic.
Isaac sang Don’t Stop Believing by Journey.
“He has a great voice,” said Padraig. “I’d written this song which has a nice philosophical aspect of ‘it’s nice to be important but it’s important to be nice’.
“I thought he’d be great for it, and he was.”
Isaac spent a few hours in a proper music studio in Cambridge recording the song.
“I enjoyed it,” said Isaac who sings regularly with Act II’s choir as well as the Pauline Quirke Academy in Peterborough. “I liked hearing the feedback and listening to how I sound and how I could improve.
“The thing that inspired me to sing was hearing all the singers on the radio.
“I thought that I’d like to be them.
“My ultimate goal is to become a very famous singer that goes on world tours and stuff like that.”
Mum Emma said: “He’s always loved music.
“Even when he was a baby he used to sing him himself to sleep.
“Now he plays piano and drums as well as singing.
“He’s still grinning from ear to ear about the experience of being in the studio weeks later.”
Meanwhile Padraig has a host of other tunes he’s been working on and is embracing the AIMP sessions.
“It’s a great way for people to come and meet each other,” he said. “It’s a really good atmosphere and you can’t beat live music.”
Isaac Corrigan at the AIMP Open Mic night (below) and by James Styles Photography (above).
