Annie Lennox to perform charity lockdown gig from home for STV Appeal

Legendary Scots singer Annie Lennox is to perform a lockdown gig from her home as part of a charity fundraiser.

The multi Grammy Award-winner will play some of her biggest hits from her extensive back catalogue from her living room as part of the STV Children’s Appeal’s Emergency Coronavirus Campaign.

She’s the latest big name to lend her backing to the Appeal’s Songs for Scotland Facebook series, and will go live from 6:30pm on Thursday May 28.

The former Eurythmics star said: “In Scotland, one in four children are living in poverty, and because of the coronavirus pandemic, those vulnerable children need support now more than ever.

“Over the last nine years, the STV Children’s Appeal has raised over £21 million to provide much-needed support for over 95,000 children and young adults. This year, the need is far greater.”

Lennox has been in lockdown in her home in Los Angeles since measures were put in place to halt the spread of coronavirus in Calfornia in March.

Last week, the Walking on Broken Glass star expressed her concern about the restrictions being lifted, telling her 306,000 Instagram followers: “For the moment, I’m staying on lockdown.”

Following Annie Lennox in playing Songs for Scotland next week will be Jon Fratelli, frontman of Brit Award-winning Glasgow band The Fratellis, with an exclusive performance of the band’s new track – a surprise collaboration with P. P. Arnold – as well as hits including Whistle for the Choir.

Ahead of his performance, Fratelli told Songs for Scotland host Polly Bartlett that he was “one of the lucky ones” as lockdown has had little impact on him.

“You tend to have to spend a lot of time squirreled away on your own [in the music industry],” he said, adding: “If you do that from a really young age, then it becomes just your normal way of life.”

The Songs for Scotland livestream series – which has already seen performances by KT Tunstall, Marti Pellow and Amy Macdonald – was launched by the STV Children’s Appeal last month to raise money for the young people and families that have been hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland.

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