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| Grammy® Award-winner Sting was aboard Cunard Line’s flagship Queen Mary 2 in New York to perform songs from his latest album and new play, “The Last Ship,” in the Royal Court Theatre on 28 October 2014. Photos Credit: Kevin Mazur/Wireimage |
29 October 2014 – Sixteen-time Grammy® Award-winning musician Sting performed songs from his latest album, “The Last Ship,” and new Broadway musical of the same name in New York on board Cunard Line’s flagship Queen Mary 2 on 28 October 2014.
The one-off performance took place in front of an invited audience in the ship’s Royal Court Theatre just two days after the musician made his official debut as a Broadway composer. To view photos and video highlights of Sting’s visit, click here.
Set in his hometown of Wallsend on Tyneside in the North East of England, “The Last Ship” draws on Sting’s memories of growing up next to the Swan Hunter Wigham Richardson shipyard. Over the years, 15 of Cunard’s ships were built there, including the four-funnelled Mauretania, once the biggest ship in the world.
“Cunard is one of the most famous names in shipping and a lot of very notable ships were built on Tyneside – Mauretania and Carpathia, to name but two. There’s a great lineage,” said Sting while visiting Queen Mary 2.
“I was born and raised in Wallsend, in the shadow of the Swan Hunter shipyard. My earliest memories are of ships being built and launched into the river. You couldn’t escape Swan Hunter – there was a coal mine at one end of town and Swan Hunter at the other, so these ships loomed over our houses.”
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| The street in Wallsend, UK, where Grammy® Award-winner Sting grew up, near the Swan Hunter Wigham Richardson shipyard. Photo Credit: Pete Loud |
Sting continued, “With ‘The Last Ship,’ I thought I would try and honour the community that I came from, because everyone around me worked in the Swan Hunter shipyard. My grandfather worked in the shipyard. All his brothers worked in the shipyard. My family has had things to do with the sea for many years.”
Sting will also perform songs from “The Last Ship” in the UK next year, on 24 and 25 April 2015, to benefit the Sage Theatre Gateshead 10th Birthday Appeal. The two performances, sponsored by Cunard, swiftly sold out when tickets went on sale this summer.
Sting said, ““Cunard are backing the concert that we are doing with the Sage in Gateshead. It’s a benefit for the Sage. It’s only right and fitting to take this story back in some form to the people who inspired it, so I’m really happy to do that.”
Sting will be joined on stage by many of the region’s best loved musicians, including fiddle and Northumbrian pipe player Kathryn Tickell and The Wilson Family from Billingham, Co. Durham. Money raised from both performances will ensure that the Sage’s vital work supporting arts and culture in the region will continue.
“We are absolutely delighted to have welcomed Sting on board Queen Mary 2 today, where the audience enjoyed tracks from his brand new Broadway hit musical,” said David Dingle, chairman of Cunard Line.
“In addition, as we prepare to mark Cunard’s 175th anniversary in 2015, our support of Sting’s benefit concerts at the Sage next April is a fitting way to commemorate the place where so many of Cunard’s finest ships were built, including one of our most celebrated – the magnificent Mauretania. ‘The Last Ship’ captures the heart of the Tyneside ship building industry, reflecting Cunard’s own special heritage with the North East.”
For more information about Queen Mary 2 or to book a voyage, contact your Travel Agent, call Cunard Line at 1-800-728-6273 or visit www.cunard.com.
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Christened by Her Majesty The Queen in 2004, Cunard Line’s flagship Queen Mary 2 defines luxury travel for the 21st Century and continues an almost 175-year legacy of Transatlantic travel. Queen Mary 2 achieved her 200th Transatlantic Crossing in July 2013. Famous names who have experienced this iconic voyage since 2004 include President George H.W. Bush, Desmond Tutu, James TaylorWes Anderson, Tilda Swinton, George Takei, Kim Novak, Uma Thurman, Richard Dreyfuss, John Cleese and Angela Bassett.
About Cunard Line
Cunard Line, operator of the luxury ocean liners Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth, has long been synonymous with the quest for new discoveries and the epitome of British refinement since the company's first paddle-wheeled steamer, Britannia, crossed the Atlantic in 1840. Cunard voyages bring together like-minded travellers who seek a civilised adventure and relish the Cunard hallmarks of impeccable White Star Service, gourmet dining and world-class entertainment. Today, Cunard offers the only regularly scheduled trans-Atlantic liner service and continues the legacy of world cruising which it began in 1922.
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