Popular rock band The Plastics became one of our favourites with their big hit Occasional Lies. Their busy year also included a remarkable story involving a courageous young girl, Kimberly Rose.
In 2012, at 14, Kimberly Rose developed cancer.
“We met Kim through her brother, who attended high school with our drummer,” explained Pascal Righini, lead singer of The Plastics.
“Her brother knew that her dream was to be a pop star.”
After Kim was diagnosed with cancer, her brother, Justin, appro-ached The Plastics about their recording a song with her. Naturally they said yes. The idea, said Justin, was to inspire Kim to fight the cancer.
He hoped that by recording with The Plastics the excitement would keep Kim’s spirit alive.
The cancer was a rare form of osteosarcoma – bone cancer.
A meeting was arranged and the band and Kim discussed her musical preferences.
“She said she liked Ellie Golding and pop music,” Righini said. “Based on that we went away and did some preproduction.
“We didn’t want the song to sound like a Plastics song because we didn’t want to be opportunistic.”
Righini admits that it was rather difficult coming up with lyrics. “Writing the lyrics was weird because I had to get into the mind of a 14-year-old girl.”
When the song was finally ready for the studio the group invited Kim to record the song.
“It really became more and more real when we went into the studio. She was really sick at that stage.
“She was taking morphine like water. It was amazing watching her do the song.
“She took on the challenge of being in the studio. She did it.”
By that stage Kim was having difficulty walking and was barely able to speak. She was not able to leave her wheelchair.
However, she managed to stand up and reached every high note required in the song.
“We initially went through the lyrics together and then she cracked it. It was amazing to hear how strong and confident she was.”
The result is a happyish pop song called Kim’s Song, with the young girl singing her heart out.
After the recording Kimberly Rose went for treatment in South Korea. “She never came back. She died in South Korea before the final mix of the song. Since then the family have been coping with it all.”
The family have set up a foundation called the Kimberly Rose Cancer Foundation. The song has been released as a single and there is an awesome video on YouTube.
Kim’s Song was launched on November 8, exactly two years after Kim died.