A NEWBURY youngster is hoping her new single will raise money for a national charity.

A NEWBURY youngster is hoping her new single will raise money for a national charity.

Emma Lawrence has written a new single, You Are, which she hopes will raise money for Living Paintings.

The 18-year-old said: “When I was volunteering for them I saw at first hand how Living Paintings really changes the lives of blind children and I wanted to do something more to help.

“One mum told me how her daughter’s ‘very dark world had been made bright’ by their work and that’s what gave me the idea; in You Are I refer to coming through dark times. It all just seemed to make sense.” Living Paintings is a charity that provides a free postal library service of specially adapted tactile books for blind and partially sighted children and adults.

Camilla Oldland, CEO of Living Paintings, said: “It is simply amazing that Emma is supporting our charity in this way. All the profits from the sale of You Are, will come straight to Living Paintings so it’s no surprise that we are doing everything we can to promote it.

“As we have just celebrated reaching 10,000 blind and partially sighted people with our free service, we thought it fitting to set a target of 10,000 downloads.” Damon Sawyer, producer at Platform Studios, said: “Emma’s music is a fusion of folk and pop and clearly expresses the emotions of her songs. Her sound crosses the borders of Florence and the Machine, Lana Del Rey and Adele but has its own unique quality and style. Her inspiration comes from such artists as Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and Emeli Sandé.” Later this year, Emma will be taking up a place in the British and Irish Modern Music Institute, which has seen George Ezra, The Kooks and James Bay go through its doors. Previously, Emma has released two EPs and had a top 40 chart hit in the iTunes singer/songwriter charts.

You Are, is available to download from July 10 on iTunes or to pre-order from June 26.