Simon Cowell’s Grenfell Tower charity single reduces listeners to tears

Simon Cowell’s Grenfell Tower charity single left listeners in tears after it was aired for the first time – with an opening rap by Stormzy.

The recording of Simon And Garfunkel’s ballad Bridge Over Troubled Water features more than 50 artists, including Rita Ora, Robbie Williams, Liam Payne and Jessie J.

Grime star Stormzy opens the track, rapping: “I don’t know where to begin so I’ll start by saying I refuse to forget you/I refuse to be silenced/I refuse to neglect you/That’s for every last soul up in Grenfell/Even though I’ve never even met you.”

Marking a week since the fire, the single was played across BBC radio stations on Wednesday morning, while the video will be aired on ITV before Coronation Street.

Listeners praised Stormzy’s opening verse.

“That could have been my mum’s house/Or that could have been my nephew,” the grime star rapped.

“That could have been me up there/Waving my white, plain tee up there/With my friends on the ground trying to see up there/I just hope that you’re resting and you’re free up there.”

All proceeds collected by Artists For Grenfell will be distributed via The London Community Foundation.

Other artists who have lent their names, and their voices, to the song include Bastille, Brian May, Ella Eyre, James Blunt, Louis Tomlinson, Nile Rodgers, X Factor winner Matt Terry and recent Britain’s Got Talent winner Tokio Myers.

The music mogul kicked off the recording process days after last week’s fire, which killed at least 79 people.

Stars came together to take part in a weekend of recording at west London’s Sarm Studios, half a mile away from Grenfell Tower.

The charity single was officially released on Wednesday morning.