Mercury Music Prize-winning band Elbow will perform the BBC’s soundtrack for the London 2012 Olympic Games, the corporation has announced.
The five-piece act, who hail from Bury, are writing a specially-commissioned piece of music ahead of next summer’s event.
Elbow’s theme, which has yet to be recorded, will be used extensively by the BBC across its Olympic programming.
Lead singer Guy Garvey said the band had been working on the track secretly in Manchester for some time, and were “over the moon” to be chosen for the role.
“It’s a real challenge because it’s designed to fit important images nationally and people’s endeavours, people have trained their whole lives for that moment,” Garvey told the BBC.
“For our music to be sound-tracking it, there was a big feeling of responsibility but also we’re just dead proud to be doing it. And strange as well with none of us really being athletic.”
The band have composed a six-minute piece called ‘First Steps’ with a choir taking on the vocals, which is a prominent feature in Elbow’s music.
“The song can be parents looking with pride at their kid walking for the first time. But also those hopes and aspirations -marvelling at what’s going on, the human element of it – translates quite well to watching your finest athletes doing their very best,” added Garvey.
Roger Mosey, the BBC’s Director of London 2012, said: “It should be just about the most heard piece of music in 2012.”
Writing in his regular BBC Olympics blog, he added: “This builds on our recent tradition of using great British contemporary artists to deliver our music, as we did with Damon Albarn in 2008; and we reckon Elbow have a unique combination of credibility – hence their Mercury Prize – with a style that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.”
The five-piece have been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize three times, including this year for the album Build a Rocket Boys. They won the same award in 2008 for their album The Seldom Seen Kid.
They won two Ivor Novello awards in 2009 for songs One Day Like This and Grounds for Divorce.
The announcement came as the BBC released full details of its cultural programmes to coincide with the Olympics and the London 2012 Festival.
They include a season of Shakespeare and London-inspired programmes, Music Nation and Radio 1’s Hackney Weekend 2012.
Mark Thompson, BBC Director General, said: “Coverage of the 2012 Olympic Games and the Cultural Olympiad represents the biggest single broadcast event in the BBC’s history.
“We want to bring this unique sporting and cultural celebration to every household in the land. We are incredibly excited not just about our plans but about the many close creative and cultural partnerships that have made them possible.”
PREVIOUS BBC OLYMPIC THEMES
Elbow’s 2012 anthem will follow in the footsteps of previous BBC Olympic themes including the Monkey theme by Damon Albarn’s group Gorillaz for Beijing 2008 (see above).
Athens 2004 theme took inspiration from the country’s classical heritage, while Sydney 2000 featured a flight around the city’s harbour landmarks.
Atlanta 1996 used footage from the film Gone with the Wind, whilst images of a flamenco dancer, matador and athletes were laid over Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé’s duet for Barcelona 1992.
Seoul 1988 and Los Angeles 1984 both used the classic theme from Chariots of Fire.
Visit TV Ark for classic archive clips of previous BBC Olympics presentation – CLICK HERE