Sheryl Crow has released a new song dedicated to the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre.
Sheryl Crow has teamed up with charity Sandy Hook Promise (SHP) on a track titled The Dreaming Kind, in order to mark the fifth anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Thursday. In December 2012, gunman Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children between six and seven years old and six adult staff members at the school in Connecticut.
Sheryl started to work with nonprofit organisation SHP to raise awareness and push forward gun regulation in regards to mental stability, and she hopes her song will remind people of the tragic incident and inspire them to campaign for tougher laws.
“When Sandy Hook happened, we knew it was a life-changing moment where we were going to address the idea that not everyone should be approved to own a gun, especially military-style weaponry and yet, nothing happened,” Sheryl told People magazine. “At some point, the alarm clock has to go off and we have to wake up.”
Sheryl, 55, is offering the song as a name-your-price download on her website. For the accompanying video, the nine-time Grammy winner cast her 12-year-old niece Ava, who also sings on the track, with her nephews Bradley, 19, and 17-year-old Chase.
“She’s still very innocent and very wide-eyed. Her voice is pure and very touching,” the star said of Ava. “She came over, she sang it four times and it was perfect.”
The song will also help Sheryl broach the subject of school shootings with her own children, Wyatt, 10, and seven-year-old Levi.
“I’m going to have to explain to them that at school, before this, it was a place you went that was safe,” she sighed. “I’m sure it will be a conversation that we will continue to have for as long as this is happening.”
