Marvellous musical Marsh Family presents ‘Mack the Knife (prostate cancer – facts of life)’ to raise awareness of disease.
A gifted singing family from Kent are in tune with leading men’s health charity Prostate Cancer UK with their new song adaptation, ‘Mack the Knife (prostate cancer – facts of life)’, raising awareness of the most common cancer in men.
Angela Culhane, Chief Executive at Prostate Cancer UK said:
“We’re delighted the mega-talented Marsh family has chosen to support us in such a fun way this Christmas period. It’s fantastic how they have put a modern twist on such an iconic song, and the new lyrics mean so much too, given the journey they and John have been on. It’s an intricate operation to write a song, so we’re really grateful they have shared some of their own experiences with just the right amount of emotion and humour.
“You can be sure that we too want to make a song and dance about the risks of prostate cancer. We want to see a world where men’s lives are not limited by this disease, and we know men and their loved ones feel the same. Together we can stop men dying, and we thank the Marsh family for playing such a brilliant role in supporting us.”
The Faversham-based Marsh family – husband Ben (45), and wife Danielle (44), and their four children Alfie (15), Thomas (13), Ella (12) and Tess (9) – earned national fame since the first lockdown in 2020 with a series of entertaining and quirky cover versions performed in their front room.
Today the Marsh family premieres its sparkling new video of the poignant version of swing classic Mack the Knife, with adapted lyrics written by Ben and outlining some facts of prostate cancer, after Danielle’s father John Burn was diagnosed with the disease in 2018. All profits from downloads of this song will be donated by the Marsh family to Prostate Cancer UK.
To celebrate his recovery last year the hugely talented family surprised university professor John, who lives in Newcastle, with their Prostatectomy song, in homage to the successful operation he had to remove his prostate. Now they want to spread the message further, with the new version of the iconic ditty, made famous by Bobby Darin, containing lyrics such as ‘Oh the prostate, it’s a gland, dear. And it’s hidden deep inside.’
While their songs boast tongue in cheek tendencies, this song has extra meaning to the family after John’s own brush with the disease. Grandparents John and Linda play a key role in the music video as the family reveal their latest song on stage, in a glitzy performance, and not in their front room!
Also, playing the part of a barman in the video, which was set inside the iconic Moth Club in Hackney, is Prostate Cancer UK’s very own specialist nurse John Robertson, and two volunteer extras who both have personal links to the disease.
Danielle Marsh said:
“Recording Mack the Knife (prostate cancer – facts of life) has been a fabulous way for us to do something to help raise awareness of a disease that will affect 1 in 8 men in their lifetime. We were so lucky with my dad but even he nearly left his concerns too late. We hope the lyrics will make people smile but also make them start discussions with loved ones about actions that they may need to take.”
“It’s so easy to push worries and concerns to one side with a busy life and a pandemic overshadowing everything but if we can encourage people to make that GP appointment and gain peace of mind or an early diagnosis, then that would be amazing and feel like some of this attention and focus that we’ve had in the past 18 months has been put to good use. Plus, it was lovely to be out of our living room for a while!”
The Double A side release also contains an original and moving home-made song called ‘Bring Us A Candle’, written by Ben and reflects on what Christmas means to them as a family. To watch Mack the Knife (prostate cancer – facts of life) visit prostatecanceruk/marshfamily or to download the song visit https://orcd.co/marshfamilychristmas with all profits donated to the charity.
