The Gift Of A Swansong

Songwriter Ben Slack has been working with Marie Curie to help terminally ill patients compose and share a special song about their life

- Katharine Wootton

When Ben Slack’s grandma was at the end of her life in 2014, the one thing that brought her joy was music. “Gran always loved to hear me and my uncle play music and would sing along. And at the end, when dementia had left her unresponsive to everything else, she had this amazing reaction when we played her favourite song as she lit up and started tapping her fingers,” says Ben.

After Ben’s gran passed away, the family talked about how special that moment had been and he wondered if he could bring this magic of music to other people.