How the World War II veteran who raised £26 million to fight coronavirus has released his first hit single — aged 99-years-old

here

Captain Tom Moore was awarded three military medals for his service which saw him stationed from Mumbai to Myanmar. And now, approaching his hundredth birthday, he adds a chart-topping single to the collection.

After raising over £26 million ($33 million) for the National Health Service’s fight against the coronavirus, the veteran has, alongside Michael Ball, hit the number one spot on the iTunes British download chart with a duet remake of Ball’s classic, You’ll Never Walk Alone, selling almost 36,000 copies in its first 48 hours.

“When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high and don’t be afraid of the dark,” Moore says on the track, which is a mix of Ball’s singing and Moore’s narration.

The song made its debut at number one, ousting 103 year-old Dame Vera Lynn, who is also raising money for the U.K.’s health service. Lynn, with Katherine Jenkins, released a duet cover of the her 1939 hit We’ll Meet Again, recently referenced by Queen Elizabeth II in her national address on the coronavirus crisis.

Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, released a message on Monday thanking key workers including medical and scientific professionals who are working to protect us from Covid-19.

“As we approach World Immunisation Week, I wanted to recognise the vital and urgent work being done by so many to tackle the pandemic,” he said in a statement on royal.uk, the royal family’s website.

Moore has eclipsed the crowdfunding platform Just Giving’s record for cash raised by a single campaign, managing 100 laps around his garden with the help of a walking frame. All profits from his single, produced by Universal Music Group owned Decca Records, will fund the campaign too.

He has raised more than 25,000 times his initial goal, a modest £1,000.

Moore turns 100 on April 30 and will now receive hundreds of cards from the viral #makeacardfortom Twitter campaign. A petition to knight the veteran has also notched almost 900,000 signatures, while U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, himself recovering from a serious bout with the coronavirus-borne disease Covid-19, is set to look at ways to reward this latest act of kindness to have emerged in response to the continuing global pandemic.