Coby Grant: Winter Bear

Written by Melbourne musician Coby Grant, Winter Bear, commemorats the loss of a beloved newborn, has struck a chord with the world, going viral attracting an incredible response since its release onThursday 11th January. On Monday 15th January her Facebook post has attracted 1.5 million views and 25K shares.

The song was commissioned by a grandfather to commemorate his grandson, who was stillborn. The hope, from this loving father and grandfather was to provide comfort to his son and daughter in law in this time of extreme grief.

‘As a huge lover of music, he (the grandfather) told me that he wanted to write a song for his Grandson, to give to his son and daughter in law, to capture the love they all felt for this child and to honour his memory’ Coby explains.

Coby had previously written a song for this couple to celebrate their marriage and even performed this song at their wedding, so Coby already had a strong connection to this couple.

‘When the grandfather asked if I could help him write this song, with a heavy heart of course said yes.’ Coby recalls. Over the next few months, the grandfather sent Coby pages of thoughts, poetry, words and feeling which served as inspiration, as well as the input from friends who had lost children, whether that be from SIDS, stillbirth, or even later in life in other tragic circumstances.

It was then produced and recorded in Holland, with long time friend and collaborator Jack van de Ven. The musicians who performed on my previous album worked their magic and made the song what it is. Coby recorded my vocals in Australia, so it was very much an international project.

The song, with a few other releases were then packaged together into a Winterbear CD, named after their son. that the Grandpa gave to his son and daughter in law. Although overwhelmed they were extremely touched and grateful for the incredible gift he gave. They have told Coby that they listen to Winterbear every day and that it brings them peace and comfort.

The song was only meant to be for this family, but as time went on it became clear that this song could give some small comfort to those people who have lost children.

‘I'm really proud of myself and of the entire team behind this project. For me, music was always about human connection. The ability to touch people, to bring them together through joy, love, heartache, forgiveness or pain. Music is the language we all understand and I feel very lucky to have it as such a huge part of my life’ Coby explains.

Coby will be donating half of all royalties from the sales of Winter Bear to charities funding research into SIDS and organisations supporting families who experience such losses.