Gary Barlow Curates Star-Studded Soundtrack for Eddie the Eagle Film

26 January 2016

Gary Barlow has curated an 80s-inspired album for the 'Eddie the Eagle' film.

Fly artwork

Some of the biggest pop acts from the decade have lent their talents to the LP 'Fly' - such as Midge Ure, Tony Hadley, Paul Young, Marc Almond, Kim Wilde, Nik Kershaw, ABC, Go West, Howard Jones and Heaven 17 - which soundtracks the movie about skier Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards, who became the first competitor to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski jumping in 1988.

And the film's stars Hugh Jackman and Taron Egerton - who portrays Eddie - have also recorded the duet 'Thrill Me', written by Gary and OMD's Andy McCluskey.

The collection of tracks came about after the movie's producer Matthew Vaughn phoned Gary in December 2014 and asked him to create the record of original tracks.

Recalling their conversation, the Take That star - who has worked with Matthew before on 'Stardust', 'X-Men: First Class' and 'Kingsman: The Secret Service' - said: "He was raving about the next movie he was going to make ... the life story of Eddie Edwards. When he started reeling off about the script, the actors and, best of all, that he wanted all the music to be faithful to the original decade of the story, the 1980s, I knew I had to be involved. Then after having seen the film I was even more excited."

"I started to think about how incredible it would be to make a whole album of brand new songs, with a cast of the legends who started their career in, and defined, the 1980s. Not a pastiche record, but a contemporary record of who all those artists are now, while still keeping the trademark style for which they originally became known around the world. It's going to be like an iconic super group! All on one soundtrack, all on one album."

The 45-year-old singer/songwriter says the project has been one of the "most enjoyable collaborative" experiences of his career and has promised fans of 80s pop will be treated to "an hour of incredible music".

Of the experience, he added: "It was totally mind blowing for me to be in this position and I feel so lucky to have experienced it all. A year on and I'm looking back at one of the most enjoyable and collaborative times in my whole career. Anyone who loves the 80s, or any of these artists involved, are in for an hour of incredible music."

Full tracklisting for Fly:

01 - Holly Johnson - Ascension

02 - Howard Jones - Eagle Will Fly Again

03 - Marc Almond - Out Of The Sky

04 - Tony Hadley - Moment

05 - Midge Ure - Touching Hearts and Skies

06 - Nik Kershaw - The Sky's The Limit

07 - ABC - Living Inside My Heart

08 - Kim Wilde - Without Your Love

09 - Andy Bell - Fly

10 - Go West - Determination

11 - Heaven 17- Pray