B Positive is a group of 60 singers from across England who live with sickle cell disease, their families, helpers and friends. The choir was formed with the mission to create awareness of sickle cell disease and the need for more blood donors. Fresh from their powerful television debut at MOBO Awards 2017 in which they shared the stage with the Britain’s Got Talent Winner Tokio Myers, the B Positive Choir are proud to announce the release of their first single “Rise Up”, a rendition of Andra Day’s original song. With lead vocals by gospel sensation, Lurine Cato.

NHS Blood and Transplant and MOBO, first started to work together in 2016 to spread awareness of the urgent need for more blood donors to a wider audience.  NHS Blood and Transplant urgently needs 200,000 new blood donors each year in order to help provide those who need it with the best care possible. One donation takes an hour and can save up to three lives,

Choir director Colin Anderson said: “Over the last year 900,000 people have given up their time to help patients in need.  But we need more new donors. Every day, we need 6,000 donations to continue saving lives. We need life-saving blood from new donors of all backgrounds to provide the closest matches for all communities. We are particularly looking for younger people and black communities to come forward.

Lurine Cato said: “We urgently need 40,000 new black donors help people with sickle cell disease. Sickle cell is more common in black, South Asian and Minority Ethnic people. Blood from black donors provides the closest match to black people who need blood.”

MOBO CEO and Founder, Kanya King MBE said:  “We are proud to be partnering with NHS Blood and Transplant on the “B Positive” campaign to help recruit new donors, and use our platform to help reach a wide audience. We were honoured to be able to provide B Positive Choir with their television debut, and it’s amazing to see the response they have received.”

 For information about B Positive, Lurine Cato and to download Rise UP go to www.blood.co.uk/bpositive.