A Song of Lily-Mae goes on sale today

Tiny Dancer - A Song for Lily-Mae, the four-year old daugther of two local dance teachers, goes on sale on i-tunes today. Lily-Mae is the daughter of local dance teachers Judith Sibley and Leighton Morrison. In 2002 Judith established Shannon Dance Academy in Athlone and both of Lily-Mae's parents teach at the school. In June of this year Lily-Mae was diagnosed with stage four Neuroblastoma. This is a rare form of cancer that effects one in 100,000 children in Ireland. A major fundraising drive was launched to help Lily-Mae and her family in this time. The biggest project undertaken was the release of Tiny Dancer, which went on sale on i-tunes today. Lily-Mae's uncle Paul Hayes spearheaded the fundraising campaign and he explained that the charity has obtained the rights of Elton John's song 'Tiny Dancer', an apt choice given Lily-Mae's love of dancing and the fact that both her parents are dancers. A choir of 250 from different musical societies across the country sing the song, alongside a host of stars including Declan O'Rourke, Paddy Casey, Camille O'Sullivan, Mundy, Liam O'Maonlai, Gemma Hayes, Mary Black, The Pale, John Spillane, Julie Feeney, Kila, Preacher's son and three West End Stars. It has support not only from the musicians involved with it, but also Elton John himself who has promoted it via Twitter. You can see the the video on YouTube or buy the song now on i-tunes and help A Song for Lily-Mae get to number one this Christmas. A local fundraiser was recently held in the Palace Bar to raise funds for Lily-Mae and you can see full coverage of this with pictures in next week's Westmeath Independent.