Dudley musician hopes Christmas song will help find a lost friend

Joseph Baker lives in London but is returning to his home town during the festive season to seek out a homeless man from the Black Country after a chance encounter in December last year on the streets of the London district of Chiswick.

The man explained his life had fallen apart which was why he was living on the streets and the tale inspired Joseph to write a song and donate proceeds to charities for the homeless including Crisis.

Joseph, aged 34, said: “We got talking and I heard my accent coming back at me. It was incredible, within less than a minute he was telling me about his life on the street; his battle with alcohol addiction; but most of all, he waxed lyrical about the love of his life who had stuck by him through everything.

“They’d been together since they were teenagers and he spent his whole life promising to marry her, until 2012 when she finally left him. He was a lovely guy, but he had a very deep sadness about him.”

Joseph, who only knew the man as Harry, never saw him in London again but took the story as inspiration for his song A Church on New Year’s Day by his band The Sticks.

Joseph is now searching for Harry in Dudley after a tip-off from a homeless woman in London.

He said: “I met a woman near the tube station who said she’d met Harry a few times. He’s around 70 years old and has some pretty distinctive features, including a small scar above his left eye and the name Evie tattooed across his fingers, so I knew we were talking about the same person.

“She said the last time she saw Harry he was talking about heading back to Dudley to try and reconnect with some of his family who he hadn’t seen in decades.

“I only hope that Harry is doing okay and that I can somehow play him the song.”

The video for A Church on New Year’s Day is available to view on You Tube and the single ban be downloaded from major retailers.

All proceeds from sales of the single until New Year’s Day 2015 will be donated to charity.