Joining two-dozen other participants, members of the Alarm, the Stray Cats, English Beat and the Cult made their way up the 1,576 steps of the Empire State Building in New York this morning (April 16).
Upon reaching the top, Mike Peters (the Alarm) Slim Jim Phantom (Stray Cats), Billy Duffy (the Cult) and Dave Wakeling (English Beat) sat down to record a version of the Alarm's "Strength," which is already being mixed in a studio in New York and will be available on iTunes tonight.
The quartet of musicians also performed a medley of the Cult's "Rain," the Stray Cats' "Rock This Town" and English Beat's "Sooner or Later."
The Empire State Building Rocks event came on behalf of the Love Hope Strength Foundation's efforts to raise money and awareness for cancer. The organization was launched last summer by Peters and music industry insurance veteran James Chippendale, who both suffered from (and overcame) leukemia.
"We saw a gap in non-profits for cancer awareness and wanted to address it. We feel like young people aren't aware that they can be afflicted and we wanted to say that through the language of music," Chippendale told Billboard.com this morning. "Nothing resonates with people as much as music. We're not really a black-tie kind of organization."
The event also served as a precursor to another major trek for the Love Hope Strength Foundation. On Oct. 9, several other musicians -- including Squeeze's Glen Tilbrook and English songwriter Nick Harper -- will attempt to climb Mount Everest. The journey will be filmed for a VH1/MTV special and a BBC prime-time documentary.
Upon reaching the top, Mike Peters (the Alarm) Slim Jim Phantom (Stray Cats), Billy Duffy (the Cult) and Dave Wakeling (English Beat) sat down to record a version of the Alarm's "Strength," which is already being mixed in a studio in New York and will be available on iTunes tonight.
The quartet of musicians also performed a medley of the Cult's "Rain," the Stray Cats' "Rock This Town" and English Beat's "Sooner or Later."
The Empire State Building Rocks event came on behalf of the Love Hope Strength Foundation's efforts to raise money and awareness for cancer. The organization was launched last summer by Peters and music industry insurance veteran James Chippendale, who both suffered from (and overcame) leukemia.
"We saw a gap in non-profits for cancer awareness and wanted to address it. We feel like young people aren't aware that they can be afflicted and we wanted to say that through the language of music," Chippendale told Billboard.com this morning. "Nothing resonates with people as much as music. We're not really a black-tie kind of organization."
The event also served as a precursor to another major trek for the Love Hope Strength Foundation. On Oct. 9, several other musicians -- including Squeeze's Glen Tilbrook and English songwriter Nick Harper -- will attempt to climb Mount Everest. The journey will be filmed for a VH1/MTV special and a BBC prime-time documentary.
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