Madeline McCann and Ben Needham to feature in video for charity single made up of relatives of missing kids
The Missing People Choir features famous faces including Rick Astley, Chesney Hawkes and Lesley Garret
MADELEINE McCann and Ben Needham will feature in the video for a new charity single, 'I Hope', sung by a choir made up of relatives of missing children.
The Missing People Choir hopes to reach the No 1 spot on International Missing Children's Day next Wednesday to help reach more of the 140,000 children who disappear every year.
Some famous faces have joined the choir, including singers Chesney Hawkes, Rick Astley, Nik Kershaw, Carol Decker and Lesley Garret as well as Royal Mail's Mail Voice Choir.
The video features images of some of Britain's missing children including Madeleine McCann, who disappeared while on holiday with her family in Portugal in May 2007, aged three years old.
Ben Needham will also feature who disappeared from Kos in Greece in 1991, aged one and six-year-old Aamina Khan who disappeared from Croydon, south London, in August 2011.
The single's release has been timed to coincide with the Big Tweet for Missing Children on May 25th, which will see the charity Missing People tweet an appeal for a missing children every 30 minutes for 24 hours.
The purpose of the tweetathon is to ensure that appeals for missing children are seen by as many people as possible.
Celebrity supporters including Simon Cowell, JK Rowling and Stephen Fry, ensured there were nearly 100,000 retweets of appeals and 19 of the missing children featured in last year's event have since been found.
Chois member Peter Boxell, whose son Lee has been missing since 1988, said: "It would mean so much to me and to all families with missing children if the public would show their support for the UK's missing children and help us with the aim of reaching the number one spot on International Missing Children's Day.
"We are relying on people spreading the word, and sharing it with friends and family. The more people who download the song the more help can be given to Missing People to help them reach out to, search and support more missing children."
80s icon Rick Astley said: "I Hope was inspired by the words of a father whose son went missing aged 14 and is still missing seven years later.
"It is a powerful and very moving song about the pain of hope that these families feel, and I am really proud to have sung on it.
"I really hope that people get behind this and help these families reach out to their missing children.
Mum Nicki Durbin performs on the track to mark the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of her son Luke.
Sarah Godwin, whose son Quentin went missing in May 1992; and Ros Hodgkiss, whose daughter Alice Gross was missing for a month before she was tragically found to have been murdered, are also choir members.
I Hope was co-written and produced by Missing People Choir director James Hawkins and Ash Alexander.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368.