Natalie Rushdie has revealed that she received the support of the Prince and Princess of Wales for her charity song in honour of the late Dame Deborah James.
The jazz singer and daughter-in-law of Salman Rushdie honoured the cancer campaigner, who died last year, by re-recording a charity single from the musical Blood Brothers.
The song, “Tell Me It’s Not True”, was first performed by Rushdie at James’s funeral last year, after the podcast host asked her to sing for her only a week before she died on 28 June 2022.
Rushdie re-recorded the song at Abbey Road Studios with 25 musicians and world-famous producer Haydn Bendall at James’s parents’ request. Proceeds from the single will be given to James’s Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research, which has raised more than £10m since its launch.
The singer recently attended Wimbledon and was photographed speaking to Kate Middleton during the tennis tournament, after she found herself seated behind the princess in the Royal Box on Tuesday (4 July).
Speaking to People, Rushdie said: “I went up to her and introduced myself and just thanked her and William for supporting the song.
“She said that it was amazing and that it was really important to William to get behind it and support it.”
Rushdie added that, last year, James said she hoped she would stay alive long enough to “get to Wimbledon”.
“When I saw her at Ascot, she said, ‘I hope I get to Wimbledon’, and she didn’t make it, so in a way I feel like I’ve taken her because everyone knows about her song and we were all talking about it at Wimbledon,” she said.
“I like to think that somewhere, [James] is drinking a glass of rose, dancing to her song and she would just think it was completely mad!”
She described the You, Me and the Big C podcast host as “so joyous” and as having an “unflappable strength of character”.
The two friends met through their husbands seven years ago and became close due to their shared love of musicals, wine and dancing. James died of bowel cancer after living with the disease for six years.
It comes after Prince William wrote in a statement to The Sun: “Her legacy will be countless lives saved from bowel cancer. Dame Debs would be so proud. She inspired the nation. I’m wishing Natalie all the very best for her single release to raise money for such an important cause.”
The prince visited the campaigner at her home several weeks before she died to honour her with a damehood for her campaigning efforts.
James was also the author of two books, F*** You Cancer: How to face the Big C, live your life and still be yourself, and How to live when you could be dead.
She was married to Pomona Capital banker Sebastien Bowen, and shared two children with him, 15-year-old Hugo and 13-year-old Eloise.
