As the head of The Kingdom Choir, Karen Gibson was propelled into the limelight when she led her singers at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex earlier this year.
Their performances of ‘Stand By Me’ and ‘Amen, This Little Light Of Mine’ became two of the standout moments of the ceremony, but she has now revealed that she would not have chosen either of the songs herself.
Speaking to HuffPost UK, Karen revealed she had originally prepared something else to perform on the royal couple’s big day, but it was bride Meghan Markle who settled on the song choices.
“I didn’t choose any of the songs,” she says. “I was told Megan had heard ‘Amen, This Little Light’ somewhere and really liked it, and so that’s why she chose that song.
“I didn’t choose ‘Stand By Me’ either. The truth is that I would not have chosen any of those songs to sing at a wedding.
She adds: “But Megan and the couple have definitely proven me wrong in their choices.”
Going in to their first meeting with Meghan and Harry at Kensington Palace, she recalls: “We quickly pulled something together, we had a few ideas, but it wasn’t what the couple really wanted. So we were just like, ‘Lets just try something out’. As soon as we started singing, I could feel in the air, see on the couple, how excited they were and felt the love.
“Paul Lee who is the lead singer for ‘Stand By Me’, as soon as he opened his mouth I could see the joy and inspiration that they felt.”
The Kingdom Choir bagged the gig when one of their former singers who worked for Prince Charles recommended them to him, and according to Karen, the prince is a big fan of gospel music.
On getting the call, she says: “It felt really surreal, and I’ll be honest with you, for several weeks after I got the call I didn’t believe it was happening, maybe it was only after the press release went out I could believe it. I was very excited, but I couldn’t get my head round it.”
Over 100 days on, Karen still can’t quite believe she was a part of such a massive day in history, and sheer joy radiates from her as she looks back on the occasion and the build up to it.
“It was another level,” she says. “I remember meeting Harry and Meghan when we went to talk about the song and I felt like I’d walked into Hello Magazine, that’s how I actually felt. I felt like I left the real world and walked into a magazine.
“It was all incredible, magical, unbelievable and incredibly exciting.”
“I felt like I’d walked into Hello Magazine”
- Karen Gibson
On the magical day itself, Karen says the group was escorted by the police from Kensington Palace to Windsor Castle and they prepared in the same room as the orchestra, before spending most of the morning watching the celebrities arrive.
Karen says seeing the breathtaking moment Meghan walked down the aisle in her pure white Givenchy dress as her personal highlight.
“I remember thinking ‘yes Meghan you look amazing’ and the sunlight is streaming down on her and it was really magical, I’ll never forget it,” she says.
After the service they didn’t get to go to the reception - and sadly didn’t get to meet Charles or the Queen either - and instead were whisked away to do interviews for the world’s media.
But even with global attention on them, Karen admits they didn’t realise just how much of an impact the wedding had, believing only “a few million” would watch the ceremony.
That figure turned out to be closer to a few billion - something that has left her lost for words.
“I don’t really have a way to describe 2 billion people,” she says. It’s just been a real blessing, a wonderful feeling.”
However, Karen recognises that an almost all-black choir singing at a royal wedding was “unprecedented”, so she knew just how important it would be.
“I’ve got Guyanese heritage, and apparently the whole of Guyana are really stoked about it, and it makes me feel really special,” she says. “I was out with the my sister the other day and I walked past a woman who turned and said to me, ‘you are the talk of our household, my grandmother is Guyanese and we’re so proud Guyanese girls have represented us’. That is so moving for me - not only for me and my sister, but for my mum as well. She is from the Windrush generation, and we just feel really, really special and honoured to take that place.
“I know because, not only people in the West Indies, but also the American community watched and have been excited about what has happened. I can’t say what it means to me.”
One of the results of her new-found fame is being recognised in public, and she recently had a surreal moment when she went to the theatre to see Sir Ian Mckellen in ‘King Lear’ and found herself more popular than him.
She says: ”I was waiting to see Ian come out the door and I was approached by strangers who said ‘were you at the royal wedding? Can we take pictures with you?’ And they went on and on all smiling, I was a bit embarrassed because it was meant to be Ian’s moment, but it was lovely and wonderful.”
The Kingdom Choir are set to continue spreading, in Karen’s words, “love, hope and inspiration” to an international audience, with the release of an album, after recently signing a contract with Sony Music.
Revealing Harry and Meghan will be the first to receive a copy when it is released next month, Karen also confirmed it will feature their renditions of ‘Stand By Me’ and ’Amen, This Little Light Of Mine’.
“There’s some other very powerful and well loved songs on the album too,” she says. “We love it and we’re sure people are going to love it too.”
The Kingdom Choir’s first album will be released by Sony Music on Friday 26 October.