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Brian
Kennedy's George Best tribute featuring Don McLean's Vincent
George Best 22 May 1946 - 25 November 2005
George Best was a footballer for Manchester United
and Northern Ireland in the 1960s and 70s, achieving superstar
status and going on to maintain this fame as a media celebrity right
up until his death in 2005.
Best developed a drinking problem while still a
player, which contributed to his early retirement from top-level
football. He was imprisoned in 1984 for drink-driving and assaulting
a policeman and was unable to give up alcohol for any length of
time. The condition of his liver deteriorated to the point where a
transplant became necessary, but the immuno-suppressive drugs that
he was required to take to prevent rejection of his new liver put
him at risk of infection, and in 2005 he contracted a serious
infection which led to his death at the age of 59.
Best's funeral was the largest Northern Ireland
has ever seen. Best's body left the family home at Cregagh Road,
East Belfast, shortly after 10
am on Saturday,
December 3. The cortege then travelled the short distance to
Stormont. The route was lined with around 100,000 mourners. There
was an 11 am service
in the Grand Hall relayed to around 25,000 mourners inside the
grounds of Stormont, and live on BBC One, UTV, RTÉ, ITV News, BBC
News 24, Sky News, Sky Sports News, EuroNews and MUTV. Afterwards,
Best was buried beside his mother Annie in a private ceremony at the
hill-top Roselawn Cemetery, overlooking east Belfast.
At the funeral, local singer Brian Kennedy sang
Don McLean's Vincent (Starry Starry Night) as it had been George
Best's favourite song. This performance, together with two other
songs performed during the service ('You Raise Me Up' by Brian
Kennedy and 'The Long and Winding Road' performed by Peter Corry)
forms the George Best Tribute single released in December 2005 on
the Curb Records label. Profits are being donated to the George Best
Foundation to support research into liver disease.
By 8th January 2006 it had reached number 4 on the
UK singles chart and number 3 in Ireland.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Best
Links:
Brian Kennedy:
http://www.briankennedy.co.uk
Football legend Best dies:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4380332.stm
George Best fan site:
http://www.compusmart.ab.ca/icorry/BESTPage.htm
The single can be purchased from all good record stores including
HMV, Virgin, WH Smith, Amazon. Woolworth
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