‘In Limbo' is the name of the new album released today – Severe ME Day – by the family of Kara Jane Spencer.
The album can be found on all major music platforms or bought as a CD from her website https://karajanesings.com. You can listen to it on Apple Music, Spotify, iTunes, Deezer, Google Play and Amazon Music.
It's five years to the day from when the world first heard the beautiful songs on Kara Jane's first album, ‘It's Still ME.'
The new album celebrates the life of the singer-songwriter who died of ME in January 2023, when she was just 32 years old.
Kara Jane, who lived in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, had a dream. It was to raise £100,000 for post-mortem research into ME and her family now hope to achieve this on her behalf.
‘In Limbo', released today, took three years to make.
The vocals had to be recorded painstakingly line by line as Kara was unable to do a complete take in any one session. The album was then produced posthumously by a team of professional musicians who have donated their time to the project.
Money raised from this album – as with the first – goes into a ring-fenced fund administered by the Ramsay Research Fund, the dedicated research arm of the ME Association.
Her father, David, told us from his home in Staveley: “Kara embraced life with love, generosity and endless determination. She fiercely advocated for ME/CFS, wanting to make the world understand just how serious the illness is, and we are continuing her work.
Photos show the new ‘In Limbo' album cover, Kara Jane and her dad David and a more familiar photo of Kara – taken at the time she was recording her first album.
“Kara was an incredibly talented young woman and her strong musical spirit lives on in our hearts.”
The new album includes two tracks recorded by her sister, Emily and an intro track which explains everything.
The first album achieved hundreds of thousands of hits on the streaming platforms, briefly outperforming Taylor Swift and The Killers in 2020. It also shot to number one in the UK Amazon best-selling charts. Kara even had a chat with the legendary Dolly Parton on a BBC radio Christmas show.
MEA trustee and medical adviser Dr Charles Shepherd confirmed that Kara’s music still lives on with the MEA. It is paying towards ME/CFS post-mortem research at the Manchester Brain Bank and also the work of the UK ME/CFS Biobank, where blood samples taken from people with severe forms of the illness are collected and stored.
“We’d like to thank everyone in the Spencer family for their continued support”, he said.
A fundraising event, hosted by the family, is scheduled for Saturday, 20th September at the Speedwall Rooms in Staveley. A women's choir called Local Vocals and sister Emily will be among the performers. The event will include food, a raffle and an auction of Kara’s paintings.
Tickets from https://www.ticketebo.co.uk/karajanesingscom/kara-jane-fundraiser
Tony Britton
Senior Fundraising Volunteer, The ME Association
fundraising@meassociation.org.uk
