"Wherever You Are" is a song written by

Paul Mealor Paul Mealor OStJ CLJ OSS FRSA (born 25 November 1975) is a Welsh composer. A large proportion of his output is for chorus, both a cappella and accompanied. He came to wider notice when his motet ''Ubi Caritas et Amor'' was performed at the w ...

and performed by the

Military Wives The Military Wives Choirs is a registered charity and network of 75 choirs in British military bases across the UK and overseas, bringing women in the military community closer together through singing. With over 2,200 members, the MWC network ...

Choir, sung by ladies from Chivenor and Plymouth under the direction of Gareth Malone. It is a spin-off of the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

television series '' The Choir: Military Wives''. It was released on 19 December 2011 following a campaign to make it the 2011 UK Christmas number one. The song entered the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

at number 1, claiming the Christmas number 1 – selling more than 556,000 copies in the week, more than the rest of the Top 12 combined. The song also claimed the status of the biggest first week sales since "

A Moment Like This "A Moment Like This" is the debut single by American singer Kelly Clarkson. The song was written by Jörgen Elofsson and John Reid from British house music project Nightcrawlers) and produced by Stephen Ferrera and Steve Mac. It was released ...

" by

Leona Lewis Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985) is a British singer, songwriter, actress and activist. Born and raised in the London Borough of Islington, she attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon. Lewis achieved nationa ...

sold over 571,000 copies in its first week in 2006. The song was included on their debut studio album '' In My Dreams''. "Wherever You Are" was nominated for Best British Single in the

2012 BRIT Awards Brit Awards 2012 was held on 21 February 2012. This was the 32nd edition of the British Phonographic Industry's annual Brit Awards. The awards ceremony was held at The O2 Arena in London for the second time. The ceremony was presented by James ...

, but the award was won by

One Direction One Direction, often shortened to 1D, are an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group are composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously Zayn Malik until his departure from the gr ...

for their single " What Makes You Beautiful".

Background

The Military Wives was formed in 2011 by Gareth Malone for the

television series '' The Choir: Military Wives''. The programme documented Malone's visits to Chivenor Barracks first and then a few months later to Royal Citadel, Plymouth – both in Devon, in which he formed two choirs of wives and partners of British military personnel deployed on active service in the

Afghanistan War War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) *Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see als ...

. In forming the choirs, Malone aimed to raise the women's morale and raise their profile in the public perception. The

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game (box art), music album (album art), ...

features the emblem of a

Remembrance poppy A remembrance poppy is an artificial flower worn in some countries to commemorate their military personnel who died in war. Remembrance poppies are produced by veterans' associations, who exchange the poppies for charitable donations used to gi ...

on a green background and the logos of the charities benefiting from the sales. It was released in the UK as a single by

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

on 19 December 2011, with proceeds going to the Royal British Legion and SSAFA Forces Help

2011 UK Christmas number one campaign

The song competed against rival Christmas campaigns to re-release

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

's " Smells Like Teen Spirit", unsigned

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

blogger Alex Day, who released multiple remixes of a song called " Forever Yours" and '' The X Factor'' winners

Little Mix Little Mix are a British girl group, composed of group members Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, and Perrie Edwards. Jesy Nelson was originally part of the group before she left in 2020. After becoming the first group to win the British ver ...

, who released a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

Damien Rice Damien George Rice (born 7 December 1973) is an Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He began his career as a member of the 1990s rock group Juniper, who were signed to Polygram Records in 1997. The band enjoyed moderate success i ...

's "

Cannonball A round shot (also called solid shot or simply ball) is a solid spherical projectile without explosive charge, launched from a gun. Its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the barrel from which it is shot. A round shot fired from a lar ...

". There was also a campaign supported by Chris Moyles of

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

to get

Lou Monte Lou Monte (born Louis Scaglione; April 2, 1917 – June 12, 1989) was an Italian American singer best known for a number of best-selling, Italian-themed novelty records which he recorded for both RCA Victor and Reprise Records in the late 1950 ...

's 1960 recording of "

Dominick the Donkey "Dominick the Donkey" is a Christmas music, Christmas song written by Ray Allen, Sam Saltzberg and Wandra Merrell, and was recorded by Lou Monte in 1960, on Roulette Records. The song describes Dominick, a donkey who helps Santa Claus bring presen ...

" to Christmas number 1 and this song was number 2 in the iTunes and Amazon charts throughout the majority of the Christmas week behind the Military Wives. Chris Moyles' support of this rival song for Christmas number 1 was controversial because the BBC appeared to be supporting "Wherever You Are" to be Christmas number 1 as BBC Radio 2 added the song to their A-list and Chris Evans was a major supporter of the record and the choir.

Campaign for US number one

On 29 December 2011 Piers Morgan campaigned on Twitter for the Military Wives Choir to reach number one in the US. He urged his 1.6 million followers to invest in the collective's charity track 'Wherever You Are' following its stateside release on Boxing Day. He tweeted "Just heard the Military Wives single gets released in the US today,", posting a link to the official video. "Watch this my American friends, then go buy it...Good luck ladies, hope you get a No1 in America." The Sun reported that the former Britain's Got Talent judge invited the choir to perform on his US show Piers Morgan Tonight.

Writing and recording

The text of "Wherever You Are" is a love poem compiled from letters written between the women and their absent husbands and partners. It was set to music by composer

, who is noted for his composition of a choral work sung at the

Royal Wedding ''Royal Wedding'' is a 1951 American musical comedy film directed by Stanley Donen, and starring Fred Astaire and Jane Powell, with music by Burton Lane and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. Set in 1947 London at the time of the wedding of Princess Eli ...

in 2011.

Live performances

The first public performance of the piece was at

The Royal British Legion The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants, as well as all others in ne ...

Festival of Remembrance The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants, as well as all others in ne ...

held at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

on 12 November 2011 attended by The Queen. The event was broadcast in the final episode of The Choir television programme to an estimated television audience of 2.65 million viewers. The Military Wives made a guest appearance on the BBC's ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...

'' on 10 December 2011, when

Vincent Simone Vincent Simone (born 15 March 1979) is an Italian professional dancer, who has appeared as a professional dancer on ''Strictly Come Dancing'' from 2006 until 2012. He moved to Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom when he was 17. Simone and profess ...

and Flavia Cacace danced to their performance of "Wherever You Are".

Commercial performance

A campaign was launched to promote sales of the CD single, with the aim of it becoming the 2011 Christmas number one in the

. Support for this campaign was received from

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

DJ Chris Evans. In the traditional, competitive speculation in the run-up to Christmas, the Military Wives single was said to be in competition for the title with the '' X Factor'' winners

, who released a

's "

", a campaign to promote the 2011 re-release of Nirvana's " Smells Like Teen Spirit" to number one, a campaign to highjack the Christmas Number 1 spot by British

vlogger Alex Day named Forever Yours and a campaign fronted by Chris Moyles from

to hijack the Christmas #1 with

. The race was further heated by the introduction of a trophy for the number one record by the Official Charts Company to celebrate sixty years of the UK Charts. It is to be awarded to every artist who makes it to number one in the UK Charts, with the first trophy being given out to the 2011 Christmas number one single. In mid-December 2011 it was reported that "Wherever You Are" had broken sales records in becoming the most pre-ordered music item ever on the UK

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

website. According to Amazon, the pre-order sales were three times as many as those of Take That’s 2010 album '' Progress''. Following the second day of release, some 242,000 copies of the single had been sold, making it the fastest selling single since ''X Factor'' winner

Shayne Ward Shayne Thomas Ward (born 16 October 1984) is an English actor and singer. He rose to fame as the winner of The X Factor (British series 2), the second series of ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor''. His debut single, "That's M ...

's 2005 single That's My Goal. At that point it was leading the race for Christmas number one, having sold six times the number of singles as second place Little Mix. On the chart dated 24 December 2011, the song debuted at number 144 on the

. The following week the song climbed to the number-one spot, becoming the Christmas number one of 2011. It sold 555,622 copies, more than the rest of the top 12 combined. It is also the biggest first-week sales since "

" by

sold over 571,000 copies in its first week in 2006. Despite impressive first week sales, "Wherever You Are" only spent one week atop the chart, with Coldplay's "

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...

" replacing it at the summit on January 1; causing it to fall three places to number four.

B side

The B side of the single is a choral setting by Paul Mealor of the Christmas song " A Spotless Rose". The song is part of Mealor's "Rose Cycle " of songs entitled "

Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal "Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal" is a poem written by Alfred Tennyson. It is like a sonnet in having fourteen iambic lines, but it is not rhymed (except that the word "me" is repeated at the ends of key lines), and it does not follow either the Sh ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

The "Wherever You Are" official videoThe Military Wives official websiteMilitary Wives on Gareth Malone's website
{{Authority control Decca Records singles Charity singles 2011 debut singles Number-one singles in Scotland UK Singles Chart number-one singles Songs about the military Christmas number-one singles in the United Kingdom 2011 songs