CAN WE SEND YOU A KISS FOR CHRISTMAS?
The Kiss4Christmas project is a brand-new Holiday song, 'Send Me A Kiss For Christmas' (Chrissy Sykes) released worldwide as a charity single MP3, raising much-needed funds for 'Help For Heroes', a UK registered charity helping injured servicemen and women and their families.
Our Kiss For Christmas video is now showing on YouTube (link below) and the MP4 can also be downloaded for charity from itunes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32RypMK0qt4
for more information please go to:
(for all the Kiss For Christmas download links)
http://www.hiltonmusic.co.uk/download-for-charity
(to send the Kiss For Christmas video ecard to family and friends)
http://www.hiltonmusic.co.uk/send-a-christmas-e-card
(for all the details of our Kiss4Christmas Appeal)
http://www.hiltonmusicpublishing.com/kiss4christmas
(to make a personal donation)
http://www.bmycharity.com/kiss4christmas
The songwriters, Chrissy (music and vocals) and Georgina (lyrics), are meeting all the set-up and running costs of this independent release themselves, so that 100% of the proceeds from their Christmas song can go to their chosen charity 'Help For Heroes' to assist their vital work for the wounded. Help with promotion / publicity / social networking will be appreciated. Please connect with us!
Our twitter address is @kiss4christmas and our facebook page is Kiss4Christmas
The theme of the Kiss For Christmas lyrics (reproduced below) is separation at Christmas, a situation particularly relevant this year to those who are serving their countries in Afghanistan, but also of much wider application to anyone who will be apart from a loved one, for whatever reason, over the festive season. We are hopeful that 'Send Me A Kiss For Christmas' will attract interest worldwide, in the run up to Christmas 2013, as a new seasonal song.
Chrissy is a professional singer/songwriter and recording artist with a wealth of experience in the music business in South Africa, USA and UK. Chrissy and husband Stuart (who has done great work for us on the mixing of the track) run Sykes and Sykes Publishing, based in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
http://www.sykesandsykes.co.uk
Georgina is a published lyricist and songwriter, and also a lawyer, so she is looking after the legal and admin side of the project (all that infuriating 'red tape'!). She runs Hilton Music Publishing, based in North Wales. Georgina penned her first song at the tender age of 8 - and, she says, "that's a very long time ago!!"
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'SEND ME A KISS FOR CHRISTMAS' lyrics
No verse inside this Christmas card
Could possibly explain how hard
Surviving is, without you here
Each day feels like another year.
I'm lost for words, what can I write?
Wish you were coming home tonight
You're far away
And so my darling I'll just say:
" Send me a kiss for Christmas"
I'm going to miss you so much
No-one to hold, the night's so cold
It's hard to sleep here on my own.
Send me a kiss for Christmas
That's all I need to keep warm
Until the day you come back and then
I'll never let you go again.
Everyone's been so very kind
They ask about you all the time
They tell me don't forget to call
If I should need their help at all.
So don't you worry, I'll be OK
I'm counting the days 'til you're home to stay
Just come back safe
That's all I pray.
" Send me a kiss for Christmas"
I'm going to miss you so much
No-one to hold, the night's so cold
It's hard to sleep here on my own.
Send me a kiss for Christmas
That's all I need to keep warm
Until the day you come back and then
I'll never let you go, never let you go
Never let you go again.
I'm lost for words, what can I write?
Wish you were coming home tonight
Repeat Chorus
I'm lost for words, what can I write?
Wish you were coming home tonight......
Send me a kiss for Christmas
I'm going to miss you so much.
& PPL. ISRC GB-SH5-13-00001
Radio Airplay
Is your local station playing our charity single 'Send Me A Kiss For Christmas'? If not, please give them a shout!!
feedback on 'Send Me A Kiss For Christmas'
from an Australian contributor to the Army Rumour Service message board: "Absolute brilliance. You girls have done an extremely fantastic job with this. I take my hat off to you, and I hope all of the Uk take this on board for you. I think that you should also send it to a Radio station here in Adelaide Australia and ask them to play it for you. I believe this should be for all of our serving defence forces no matter what country you serve in. This should also be recognised as an official Christmas anthem for all people with families overseas as well. Congratulations girls, fantastic."
"Radio Broadgreen are proud to add "Send Me A Kiss for Christmas" to our December playlist. A great tune for a very worthy cause 'Help For Heroes'.
(Burn FM) "It's a lovely song and is being well received!"
(Radio Calderdale) "Well done! This is such a great cause, and I will give it some airplay on my show."
(Radio Camelot) "... fantastic Christmas single, we have added this to our playlist and hope for great things from it in the Festive period."
(Epsom Hospital Radio) "A truly awesome song!!"
(Erewash Sound) "I will happily play the song on my live show between 8 am and 12 pm on Christmas Day."
(Radio Halton) "This is a really lovely song and I'm sure many people will relate to it."
(Radio Haslar) "I have had a listen, and I would be proud to include that on my playlist."
(Radio One Mallorca) "Happy to promote & play it for you."
(Nevis Radio) "I really like the track and wish you big success with it."
(New Forest Hospital Radio) "It is certainly a very pleasant Christmas song which I think would go down well with our listeners."
(Channel One Newport H.R.) "It's a fantastic song for a fabulous cause and we are proud to play it on our station"
(Northern Air H.R.) "We have made it our song of the week and added it to our play out for you. Good luck with the single."
(Passport FM, Spain) "Good luck. It's a very catchy tune."
(Reading 107 FM) "This sounds perfect! We'll play it on our Xmas show on December 22nd."
(Radio Stitch) "Very impressed, we will play this here and also on our sister station, Ignition Radio. Hope it raises lots of money'
(TD1 Radio) "great song and great cause."
(Victoria Radio Network) "I'll be more than happy to play it on my show."
(Radio West Middlesex) "I really like your song and it will certainly get some plays on Radio West Middlesex. It's a great song and a great cause. I hope the song does well after all your hard work."
(Radio Wey) "This is a top production and it will be an absolute pleasure to play. Good luck with it'
(Radio Ysbyty Gwynedd) "a lovely song...I have asked the presenters to play it on their progs. from now until Christmas."
That was the off-the-record ultimatum, not from a Mafia boss, but from the Head of Music at one of the UK's major radio networks!. Songwriters Chrissy & Georgina had been puzzled why, despite winning fantastic support for their Kiss For Christmas Appeal from independent radio stations, all their efforts to gain airplay for their charity single 'Send Me A Kiss For Christmas' from the major networks had fallen on such stony ground. Time and time again, they were met with a wall of silence. Everything revolved around these companies' 'playlists' and invariably all the decision making had been left to one, seemingly unapproachable, person in each organisation. Never a good idea where big profits are at stake for the record labels - in the words of the 19th century historian, Lord Ashton, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Not being one to take 'no' for an answer, Chrissy eventually managed to get through to one of the elusive 'decision makers' and she demanded an explanation why he wouldn't even consider playing 'Send Me A Kiss For Christmas', despite several of his Station Managers wanting to do so? She had clearly ruffled his feathers, and, in the heat of the moment, he perhaps said more than he should have done about how to go about getting airplay on that network: "The more you can pay, the better your chances!" The figure he suggested was £3,000 (over $4,800) a week!
These days, it seems, 'payola' (in effect, direct bribes) has been replaced by shadowy 'pluggers' who act as the intermediaries between the record companies and those all-powerful playlist controllers at the radio stations. As one blog reveals "the record labels can pretend that they're not bribing radio station employees, even though everyone knows that's exactly what's happening. Because of this, the major labels absolutely dominate radio airplay."
A former UK industry insider explained: "Sadly as The Radio Authority gave way to OFCOM, more and more small scale radio stations were swallowed up by the big radio groups and everything's then became centralised. The local decision making we used to have has given way to 'someone within the group' choosing all the music for the playlists"
As a charity project to help wounded service personnel, the Kiss4Christmas girls have no funds themselves to buy airtime, they were depending on the goodwill of the broadcasters to rally to the cause. But it seems the 'Christmas spirit' is sadly lacking in some quarters!
"We knew the big names would demand most of the Christmas cake, but just a few crumbs for our charity single would have been welcome" says Chrissy, "It seems, however, that only money talks."
So Chrissy and Georgina are appealing for 'People Power' to help us spread the word and gather support! Social networking wizard Jon Morter proved it can be done, when he took on Simon Cowell in the race for the UK Christmas No.1 spot in 2009 with 'Rage Against The Storm.' - and won.
If you support the aims of our Kiss For Christmas 100% for Charity Appeal for 'Help For Heroes', please join the Kiss4Christmas girls now on twitter @kissforchristmas and Facebook Kiss4Christmas.
"Together, we can rage against the media! "
Will you, or someone you know, be spending Christmas apart from a loved one?
When a partner or other special one has to be away over the Holidays, for whatever reason, it's hard to get into the Christmas spirit. That's the poignant theme of ‘Send Me A Kiss For Christmas’ (Chrissy Sykes) released worldwide by UK songwriters Chrissy and Georgina, as a charity single dedicated to helping wounded service personnel.
The story (video link: http://tinyurl.com/Kiss-4-Video) begins by asking 'What can I write in this Christmas card?' No verse could possibly explain how lonely this military wife is feeling, how very hard it is surviving without her loved one beside her. Each day apart feels like another year passing. How she wishes he could be coming home tonight! But he's far away, and she's going to miss him so much over the festive season. Everyone, she says, is asking after him, and offering their support while he's away. So, don't worry, she'll be OK, just come back safely, that’s her prayer. Meanwhile, she asks him to send her a special kiss for Christmas, one that will keep her warm through those cold, lonely nights, until the day he comes home - and then, she promises, she'll never let him go again!
Chrissy explains “We wrote our song as a tribute to the often-forgotten military wives, girlfriend and partners all over the world who will be home alone this Christmas.”
The ‘Kiss4Christmas’ girls have had some lovely feedback, not least this recent message all the way from Australia (Adelaide): “I believe this should be for all of our serving defence forces no matter what country you serve in. This should also be recognised as an official Christmas anthem for all people with families overseas as well. Congratulations girls, fantastic.”
Georgina adds: “As we’re doing all the promotion ourselves, we’re appealing for ‘people power’ to help us! Please connect with ‘Kiss4Christmas’ on Facebook & Twitter and download the song / video, it’s 100% for charity at http://hiltonmusic.co.uk/download-for-charity
Thank you”
http://afsachapters.com/blog/2013/12/12/sending-a-kiss-for-christmas-around-the-world/
"It's not about the rights and wrongs of war, it's about a 22 year old boy who's had his legs blown off."
(Bryn Parry MBE, co-founder & CEO, Help For Heroes)
It all began with a bike ride.....Former soldier Bryn Parry and his wife Emma had been deeply moved by a traumatic visit in 2007 to Selly Park Hospital, Birmingham, which at that time was a specialist unit, treating wounded military patients.
“When we went to the hospital everything changed for us because it was so devastating. It was the most sobering and humbling thing I've ever done"
explains Bryn, as he recalls their meeting with the boy who was brain damaged, another with his arm fragmented into 60 pieces, and the mother who had lost half her body weight, sitting beside her son, hour after hour, feeding him through a straw.
*footnote i.
“It's just been a humanitarian desire to do something, and not stand around and feel helpless."
(Bryn Parry MBE)
The couple decided there and then that something must be done to help, and they soon got busy organising a sponsored bike ride through the battlefields of France, to raise funds for wounded soldiers, sailors and airmen. Their target was to raise £10,000.
Soon, they were set on a much more ambitious plan, £8m to build a swimming pool at the Headley Court military rehabilitation centre in Surrey. Once that target was reached in just eight months, 'Help For Heroes' never looked back, and the charity has gone from strength to strength in the six years since it was founded. Little did Bryn and Emma know that from their modest beginnings on that first bike ride it would grow to become the major force it is today, in providing aftercare for wounded service personnel and their families. Total fundraising is now over £150 million, a remarkable success. Bryn and Emma are both from military families. Emma was a soldier's daughter and son Tom is an officer with 2nd Battalion the Rifles.
"You spend the whole day dreading somebody walking up and knocking on the door....there are thousands of parents, grandparents, girlfriendsand wives who feel the same."
* source footnote ii
In 2010, Bryn and Emma’s achievements were recognised by Her Majesty The Queen, each receiving the OBE for their voluntary services to the armed forces.’Help For Heroes’ has attracted support from many ‘big names’. Celebrity patrons include Jeremy Clarkson, together with his wife Francie (whose late father, Major R.H. Cain, held the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry), Ross Kemp, Lorraine Kelly, Anneka Rice, James Blunt, best-selling author Andy McNab, and, from the world of sport, Sir Ian Botham, Simon Halliday and Chris Holmes MBE.
"Help For Heroes would not exist without the hundreds of thousands of other people who have actually done something"
(Bryn Parry MBE)
Chrissy & Georgina comment: " 'Send Me A Kiss For Christmas' just seemed to be crying out to become a charity project, and as soon as we'd written it we began to think of 'Help For Heroes' as a worthy cause to which we could donate our song as a fundraiser. And so began our 'Kiss4Christmas' Appeal.The lyrics portray the story of being apart from a loved one at Christmas, the hardest time of the year to be far away, and praying for a safe return. A fitting tribute we felt to the often forgotten military wives, girlfriends and partners around the world, who have to spend Christmas Day without their special ones beside them. The message is a simple but heartfelt one:'Send me a kiss for Christmas, don't worry, I'll be OK, just come back safely and, when you do, I'll never let you go again!'
We had hoped we might get some backing from the music business, to get us off the ground, but no offers of help were forthcoming, so we released the record ourselves! We are determined that whatever it raises will go in full to our chosen charity, not only for Christmas 2013, but in future years as well, if the record continues to sell and gets played during the festive season. Our Kiss4Christmas commitment is long-term."
We are doing all the promotion ourselves, as we don't have funds to pay for 'pluggers', and it's been a battle to get airplay. Without any money, the big networks just don't want to know - shame on them! But the support and goodwill we've had from the independent, community and hospital radio stations has been terrific, as, indeed, has the response from wonderful people in all walks of life around the world, in helping us to promote our Kiss For Christmas project.
When we set out, we appealed for 'People Power' and now the word is spreading far and wide! Whatever the success of the single, we know our contribution in monetary terms will be a mere drop in the ocean, but, at least, in Bryn's words, we are 'actually doing something', and we will be helping to raise awareness of 'Help For Heroes' , not only in the UK, but globally."
Acknowledgments
*i. Source: http://countrycalling.co.uk/index.php/2012/02/23/our-national-debt-the-wounded/
*ii. Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10296858
http://www.hiltonmusic.co.uk/why-we-are-dedicating-kiss-for-christmas-to-help-for-heroes
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR KISS FOR CHRISTMAS APPEAL
Chrissy on track to help our heroes
For soldiers who won't be home with their loved ones this Christmas, Barnsley singer songwriter Chrissy Sykes will be sending them a kiss in a charity single she's releasing for Help for Heroes.
Chrissy, who has a musical background and used to live in Nashville, Tennessee, sings on 'Send Me A Kiss For Christmas' which she co-wrote with Wales-based lyricist Georgina Hilton.
http://www.barnsley-chronicle.co.uk/mobile/news/article/7165
Skope Magazine
‘Send Me A Kiss For Christmas’ has been released worldwide by UK songwriters Chrissy Sykes and Georgina Hilton, as a charity single for Christmas 2013.
Chrissy (music & vocals) and Georgina (lyricist) are meeting all the costs of the ‘Kiss4Christmas’ project themselves, so that 100% of the proceeds can go to their chosen charity, ‘Help For Heroes’ (UK charity no. 1120920), to aid wounded service personnel.
“As the theme is being separated from a loved one at Christmas time, we felt it would be particularly relevant this year, with so many brave coalition servicemen and women still away in Afghanistan. We hope that listeners from many countries will be able to identify with these lyrics”, explains Georgina.
Chrissy adds: “December 25th, is a day for families to be together, so being separated, for whatever reason, makes Christmas the loneliest time of all. The message of this song is, however, a positive one…. looking forward to being reunited soon – and then never, ever letting go again!”
http://www.skopemag.com/2013/11/25/send-me-a-kiss-for-christmas-to-benefit-help-for-heroes-uk
All of a sudden, it seems that Christmas is coming fast, only 30 days to go!
We are working round the clock to send our Kiss For Christmas charity single around the world - please help us to spread the word far and wide!
Georgina & Chrissy
The Kiss4Christmas Appeal http://www.hiltonmusic.co.uk/kiss4christmas
'Send Me A Kiss For Christmas' is released worldwide today by UK songwriters Chrissy Sykes and Georgina Hilton, as a charity single for Christmas 2013.
Chrissy (music & vocals) and Georgina (lyricist) are meeting all the costs of the 'Kiss4Christmas' project themselves, so that 100% of the proceeds can go to their chosen charity, 'Help For Heroes' (UK charity no. 1120920), to aid wounded service personnel.
"The theme of Kiss For Christmas is being separated from a loved one at Christmas time, and we felt this would be particularly relevant this year, with so many brave servicemen and women still away in Afghanistan over the festive season. We hope that listeners from many countries will be able to identify with these lyrics", explains Georgina.
Chrissy adds: "December 25th, is a day for families to be together, so being separated, for whatever reason, makes Christmas the loneliest time of all. The message of this song is, however, a positive one... looking forward to being reunited soon - and then never, ever letting go again!"
The girls have been thrilled by the progress of their Kiss For Christmas promotional video, which has clocked up over 200,000 views on YouTube since October 1st. They are now looking forward to raising a bumper sum for their charity, as the song goes on release through itunes, Amazon Google Play and all the other major digital sites around the world.
Links
'Send Me A Kiss For Christmas' Video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32RypMK0qt4
TheKiss4Christmasproject website:
http://www.hiltonmusicpublishing.com/kiss4christmas
Twitter: @kiss4christmas
Facebook: kiss4christmas
SEND ME A KISS FOR CHRISTMAS (CHRISSY SYKES)
Please download our brand-new Christmas song, all proceeds are for charity.
Download the Kiss For Christmas MP3 on itunes
Download the Kiss For Christmas MP3 on Amazon.com
Download the Kiss for Christmas MP3 on Amazon UK
Download the Kiss For Christmas MP3 on Google Play
Download the Kiss For Christmas MP3 on 7digital
also, the Kiss For Christmas video is available
Download the Kiss For Christmas MP4 video on itunes
TO BUY THE TRACK WITH SMS
text track 9136 or track SENDKISS to 80818
TO BUY THE TRACK WITH SMS for DIRECT TO MOBILE DOWNLOAD
text track 9136 m or track SENDKISS m to 80818
Texts cost £1, which includes operator revenue share. UK only.
Operator Data Transfer fees also apply for mobile downloads.
We have been working 24/7 on preparations for the release of 'SEND ME A KISS FOR CHRISTMAS', supported with a promotional video. Pre-release is planned for the beginning of October, with an official release date early November.
Gradually, all the 'loose ends' are coming together!