You Raise Me Up, written by Secret Garden’s Rolf Løvland and...(+)
You Raise Me
Up, written by
Secret Garden’s Rolf
Løvland and Irish
novelist Brendan Graham,
achieved its unique
success mainly through
being recorded by so many
artists around 150 of
them
todate.
Originally
intended as an
instrumental entitled
‘Silent Story’
Løvland’s melody only
acquired lyrics after the
Norwegian composer
invited Graham — whose
novels he knew — to
turn it into a song for
Secret
Garden’s2002album
Once In A Red
Moon. It was sung on
the album by Irish
vocalist Brian Kennedy
and although it enjoyed
some success in both
Ireland and Norway, the
song’s eventual path to
legendary status only
began when JoshGrobantook
it to the number one spot
on Billboard’s Adult
Contemporary Chart in
2004. Groban performed
the song at several
high-profile events in
the US (including Super
Bowl XXXVIII, Oprah
Winfrey's 50th birthday
celebration, andonThe
Ellen DeGeneres Show
where he was accompanied
by the African Children's
Choir).
Westlife
raised the song’s
profile further when they
made it the debut single
from their album, Face To
Face. It was to
becomeanall-purpose
inspirational anthem
featured at everything
from the 2009 Nobel Peace
Prize concert to series 4
of The X-Factor in the
UK. Daniel O’Donnell,
Aled Jones, Katherine
Jenkins, Il Divo, Russell
Watson and
TheMormonTabernacle Choir
have now all performed
it, helping to turn
Løvland and Graham’s
uplifting song into a
global phenomenon and a
21st century classic