Betty Ford dies

Betty Ford has died.

The former US First Lady – the wife of President Gerald Ford, who sat in office from 1974 to 1977 – passed away at home last night at the age of 93, though further details of her passing have not yet been disclosed.

Betty was most famous for co-founding the world-renowned Betty Ford rehabilitation clinic in California, which opened in 1982, four years after was admitted to Long Beach Naval Hospital for prescription drug and alcohol abuse treatment.

A long line of celebrities have sought treatment from the facility, including Lindsay Lohan, Robert Downey Jr., Kelsey Grammer, Elizabeth Taylor, Ozzy Osbourne, Drew Barrymore, Johnny Cash, Liza Minnelli, Billy Joel, and David Hasselhoff.

Speaking about the clinic, Betty previously said: “People who get well often say, ‘You saved my life,’ and ‘You’ve turned my life around’.

“They don’t realise we merely provided the means for them to do it themselves and that’s all.

“That’s a God-given gift as far as I’m concerned. I don’t take any credit for providing anything that wasn’t provided to me.”

Betty – whose husband passed away in 2006 – underwent surgery for an undisclosed ailment in 2007 and has previously battled breast cancer and severe arthritis.

Just Enough For The Real World Charity Performances

In Association With

The Helen Bamber Foundation

www.justenoughfortherealworld.com

“Sex trafficking is a hugely important subject, and I believe we need as much art as we can get to help people understand what’s going on. It’s all the little efforts that produce a shift in consciousness. What’s more, to do nothing is unthinkable.”- Emma Thompson

“Sometimes all it takes is one person to make a difference”– Helen Bamber

Music Producers and Writers, Phil Knight and Rob Clydesdale have worked tirelessly with their team of musicians in creating the forthcoming second series of charity performances in association with Emma Thompson’s ‘Helen Bamber Foundation’. Repeated due to popular demand, the three live theatre shows will take place on the 5th, 6th and 7th May following the band’s release of their first single ‘The Sky Is Always Mine’ on 9th May.

‘The Sky Is Always Mine’ features vocalist Desi Valentine whose credits include playing the lead in the West End version of Fame and as backing singer for artists such as Elton John and Liza Minnelli. The single will be released on the 9th of May following the three live theatre shows. The theatre shows incorporate the full selection of songs from the charity album ‘Just Enough For The Real World’, featuring eleven up and coming singers including the daughter of TV Chef Jean-Christophe Novelli, Christina Novelli, to Desi Valentine and even a full marching band.

In 2008, Phil Knight from Waltham Forest was invited by actress Emma Thompson to view an educational exhibition in Trafalgar Square called ‘Journey’. Journey told the story of an Eastern European girl, Elena, who was trafficked to the UK and subsequently forced to service up to fifty men a day; she was further subjected to physical torture. The Authorities eventually caught up with the trafficking circle, which thankfully led to Elena’s release. The Helen Bamber Foundation, whose chair person is Emma Thompson, provided solace and helped Elena turn her life around so that she may now live the normal life she always dreamed of.

This was to change Phil’s life forever. He felt such anger for Elena’s story that he could no longer simply sit back and ignore such terrible human rights violations. But without having a human rights background he could only act in the arena he knew…………..music.

By 2009, Phil wanted to raise awareness of the Helen Bamber Foundation in order to help an unquantifiable number of women and children who are subjects of trafficking every year. The Drum For Life project involved Phil drumming for four and a half days, non-stop, in Leicester Square, to over 1800 songs and subsequently demonstrating self-torture. Sleep deprivation made him hallucinate; the motive behind the project made him cry, but remembering the story of Elena gave him the encouragement to complete the project and raise over £4,000 for the cause. By November 2009, producer Rob Clydesdale from Hertfordshire and Phil joined forces to discuss the making of an album for the benefit of the Foundation. They called it ‘Just Enough For The Real World’.

“This is great music by great writer-performers who were inspired by great suffering. Weirdly, it is full of humour and hope and breathes life into its listeners, not sadness. Joyful and timely, it reminds us what ARTISTS can do when they’re in the right place at the right time”- Emma Thompson

“Baroness Benjamin: More and more people are being inspired by documentaries, films and newspaper articles to become proactive, such as the young musician whom I heard about just recently, who saw the documentary “The Journey” and recorded a CD to tell the story of young women sold into sex slavery and continually moved across borders. He did so because he felt compelled to do something to raise awareness. I believe that, in order to engage more people like him, we should encourage the media to search out stories that highlight the evil trade in human beings” – Baroness Benjamin

“Absolutely Fantastic” – Jamie Theakston

‘If this CD and all the hard work behind it can help save just one life, it will all have been worth it,’ Phil Knight.