body gossip

Lightyears appear on video soundtrack

The Lightyears have been used to soundtrack a brand-new promotional video by positive body image campaign group Body Gossip.

Our collaboration with the wondrous folks over at Body Gossip has been going on for some years now, and in fact we’ve provided the soundtrack for many previous BG videos including “This One’s For You” and “What are we protecting our children from?“.

The campaign’s new video “What Is Body Gossip?” explains the background to the campaign and chronicles its achievements thus far. The soundtrack is “Sing”, a song we recorded with The Voyager School Choir in Peterborough a few years back. Watch the video in full below.

Lightyears soundtrack new Body Gossip film

The Lightyears have provided the soundtrack for a new short film by Cosmo award-winning body image campaign Body Gossip.

The film, entitled ‘Ageing Gracefully‘, features a cast of celebrities that includes Natalie Cassidy, Mikyla Dodd and Nikki Grahame and is the latest in a series of films by BG seeking to promote healthier body image in society.

We’re proud to have been associated with Body Gossip from the very beginning of their campaign. Take a sneaky peek at the new video below:

LYs soundtrack award-winning campaign

As many of you may know, The Lightyears have previously soundtracked a number of short films for the positive body image campaign Body Gossip.

A new video has been released today featuring bespoke music from the LYs, and it’s called Poem For Women – a satirical take on weight loss, written by Lola Frears and performed by a cast of celebrities including Natalie Cassidy and Big Brother’s Nikki Grahame.

Body Gossip released the video today in celebration of the fact that, last night, co-founders Ruth & Natasha won ‘Ultimate Campaigners’ at the 2012 Cosmopolitan Women Of The Year Awards. This is incredible news – campaigns like this may appear to spring up out of nowhere, but here in The Lightyears we’ve watched The Dynamic Duo build Body Gossip up literally from nothing, and it’s been truly inspiring to watch.

Find out more on the Body Gossip website, and click below to watch ‘Poem For Women’:

Chris Lightyear published in Body Gossip book

In late 2010, The Lightyears wrote and recorded the soundtrack to two short films by Body Gossip, a campaign aiming to challenge society’s unrealistic and narrow beauty ideals. On September 6th, Body Gossip are releasing their first book, with a foreword by Gok Wan, and it features a story by none other than me, Chris Lightyear. And it’s about my bum (or lack thereof).

My article is called ‘Does My Bum Look Small In This?’ – but if you want to read it yourself then, by George, you’ll just have to pre-order a copy from Amazon. And in the unlikely event that you need convincing, there are naked people on the cover. Boobs, and arses, and all that. So there.

Body Gossip is run by the amazing Ruth Rogers and Natasha Devon. Find out more on the BG Facebook page.

As you probably know, I’ve been honing my writing skills over the last few years while working on my debut novel, a semi-fictionalised re-telling of the story of The Lightyears, entitled Mockstars. We recently released three readings from the book at Project Lightyears, and here’s the one where I try (and fail!) to impress an A&R Man from a major record label:

LYs provide soundtrack for celebrity-backed campaign

We’ve just written two original pieces of music to soundtrack the latest short film releases from the Body Gossip campaign.

Body Gossip, run by the fantastic Ruth Rogers, aims to challenge society’s unrealistic and narrow beauty ideals and has been gaining huge traction over the last few years.

The videos, entitled “What Are We Protecting Our Children From?” and “This One Is For You“, feature performances from Big Brother’s Nikki Grahame, Anne Diamond and Caryn Franklin (The Clothes Show), all of whom are actively backing the campaign.

Follow the links below to view the films:

– “What Are We Protecting Our Children From?”
– “This One Is For You”

“The films… are edited together alongside a gorgeously subtle score composed specially by London-based band The Lightyears…” (read more)
FLAVOUR MAGAZINE

The Hub – London – 29/03/09

Fame for fame’s sake…?

The internet is awash with articles about the death of Jade Goody, notorious entrepreneur and former Big Brother phenomenon. Never before has somebody experienced a gradual death quite so publicly – and inspired such a storm of media attention and public debate in the process.

Whilst Jade wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, her death was undeniably tragic. However, I can’t help but feel that there’s something terribly crass about the whole affair. The press are patting themselves on the back for “creating” her and, for the most part, transparently ignoring the fact that they spent most of their column inches slagging her off. Huge swathes of the general public are paralysed by an apoplexy of hysteria over somebody they have never met. Goody’s wedding was televised a couple of weeks ago and a million people tuned in. What does this all mean? What does it say about our relationship with the media and with the people it portrays?

You can’t help but admire Goody for her skillful manipulation of the press; however, if she can be considered the puppet-master controlling the papers, the papers can in turn be considered the puppet-masters wielding our strings. Ultimately, we’re the schmucks getting screwed at the bottom of the food chain. We are absolutely lapping it up and, as long as we continue to do this, the tabloids will continue to churn it out. 

Whereas back in the good old days celebrities were recognised and celebrated for a specific talent, nowadays they have morphed into unimaginative circus freakshows, kept afloat by a paparazzi interested almost exclusively in getting pictures of people flashing their pants. Paris Hilton, Jordan, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson – for me, these people are “Notorieties”, not “Celebrities”. The old maxim that “all publicity is good publicity” is truer now than ever. For instance, there was a time when being photographed staggering drunk out of a taxi into a strip-club would have ruined a celebrity’s career. Now it creates that career. Fame breeds fame for fame’s sake.

This, to me, suggests that the whole notion of celebrity is on the verge of eating itself. And how long can a species which cannibalises its own young survive?

Chris Lightyear

ps. this Sunday 29 March I become a “celebrity” myself when I return to my theatre roots to perform alongside a cast including supermodel Anne Diamond, Big Brother’s Nikki Grahame and supermodel Jen Hunter at the launch of Body Gossip. Click here to read more!

Chris Lightyear to star in Body Gossip premiere

I have been asked to star alongside a cast of celebrities in the world premiere of revolutionary theatre event Body Gossip this Sunday 29 March at The Hub in King’s Cross.

The Lightyears will be performing after the show – including a batch of new songs not yet heard live – but in addition to this I will be donning my theatre hat to join Anne Diamond, Big Brother’s Nikki Grahame, Mikyla Dodd (A.K.A. “The Fat Girl From Hollyoaks”) and more besides in dramatising monologues written by real people about their thoughts on, and experiences with, body image.

This Sunday’s launch event sold out several weeks ago; however, if you missed out this time, never fear – plans are afoot for repeat events in the future. 

Visit the Body Gossip website for more information.

It’s rather important at this stage that I point out at that, yes, this does technically make me a celebrity now. However, I won’t let my new status as disgustingly famous affect me as a person. Please, if you see me in the street, don’t shy away. Don’t feel intimidated by my presence. Come and ask for an autograph. Yes, there is a chance I will strike you down for wasting my time, but imagine if I don’t! What a thrill that would be for you.

LYs to headline at world premiere of “Body Gossip”

On Sunday 29 March we’re returning to the London scene for a headline performance at the launch of Body Gossip, a celebrity-endorsed theatre event examining the effects of the “size zero” phenomenon on the nation’s sense of body image.  

The show is taking place at The Hub in King’s Cross – an exciting new venue which describes itself as “a global community of people from every profession, background and culture working at ‘new frontiers’ to tackle the world’s most pressing social, cultural and environmental challenges”.

The brainchild of actress and BBC presenter Ruth Rogers, Body Gossip will comprise 15 real life stories, gathered together from the winning entries of a national writing competition, performed for one night only by a celebrity cast that includes Anne Diamond, Big Brother’s Nikki Grahame and supermodel Jen Hunter. We’ll be hitting the stage once the theatre is finished.

Body Gossip kicks off at 7pm; tickets cost £20. Buy yours soon as this event will sell out!

Click here to buy tickets.

Click here for full details – timings, maps etc.

Click here to find out more about Body Gossip.