Press releases
Records announced in this year's Secret 7" music and art project - Amnesty to be beneficiary
John Lennon, The Jam, Chvrches, Tame Impala, Etta James, Jack Garratt and Max Richter will have 100 limited-edition 7” singles in unique artist-designed sleeves
Amnesty International UK is the beneficiary of this year’s Secret 7” music and art fundraising project, which brings together leading musicians and visual artists.
The project, supported by Universal Music UK, will see seven classic songs - new and old - reissued in a limited-edition 100-copy run with all of the sleeves specially designed by a range of visual artists, including some leading figures. Overall there will therefore be 700 singles, each in their unique, individually-designed sleeves.
All 700 singles will be exhibited at the Sonos Studio (http://studio.sonos.com/) in Shoreditch in east London (from 8 April-1 May 2016). On the following Bank Holiday Monday (2 May), the singles will go on sale to music fans, art connoisseurs and collectors - who are invited to buy the singles for £50 each (limited to four per person). The sale is a “secret” one in that buyers will not know which song they are acquiring or the artist who has designed their sleeve. All profits from the sale will go to support Amnesty’s human rights work.
The records in this year’s project are:
John Lennon – Imagine
Etta James – At Last
Max Richter – Dream 3
The Jam – Art School
Tame Impala – The Less I Know The Better
Chvrches – Clearest Blue
Jack Garratt – Worry
Amnesty International UK’s Campaigns Director Kerry Moscogiuri said:
“This is a fantastic concept which goes to the heart of why people love music - a love of vinyl and a love of great sleeve art. We’re proud to be involved and look forward to seeing the artwork that comes out of this inspiring and unique project.”
Artists invited to design sleeves
The announcement of the seven tracks is the official launch of the design submissions process, with design hopefuls able to submit their artwork for the singles until 2 March (more information: http://secret-7.com/). The artist contributors will be announced in March.
Fifth year of Secret 7
This is the fifth consecutive year of the Secret 7” project - past musicians have included The Rolling Stones, Massive Attack, Elton John, The Cure and Black Sabbath. Previous sleeve designers have included Sir Peter Blake, Yoko Ono, Sir Paul Smith, Ai Weiwei, Gilbert & George, David Shrigley, Jeremy Deller, Jake & Dinos Chapman and D*Face.
Since 2012, it has produced and sold over 2,700 individually-crafted sleeves, in the process raising over £130,000 for charitable causes. Some 22,000 people visited the exhibition last year, with lengthy queues of people waiting to attend the first-come-first-served sale.
Secret 7” was founded by Kevin King, formerly of Universal Music and the designer Jordan Stokes. All the music involved throughout the project has been drawn from Universal Music’s extensive back catalogue.