Music is your ally

Jun 23 2005 By James Cartledge, Evening Mail

TEENAGE songbird Lhamea Lall has added her voice to the Evening Mail's Bullying Kills campaign.

The 17-year-old Birmingham starlet has written and recorded a new song supporting our bid to protect vulnerable youngsters.

She wants Hardest of All to inspire victims to speak out.

"Having overcome problems with school bullies myself, I'm very passionate about this," she said.

"The song tells victims to stand up for themselves. Younger people listen to music and it's almost like a language for them, so I hope they will connect with it."

The Solihull College music student, from Erdington, appeared as Ms Dynamite on ITV's Stars in Their Eyes and hopes for a recording career after finishing her studies.

But her success masks the pain of her own bullying ordeal, when she was forced to switch schools to escape her classroom persecutors.

Hardest of All was inspired by our anti-bullying campaign, which was launched in the wake of Anna-Marie Averill's suicide last month.

The 15-year-old's family claimed she was bullied at Hillcrest School, in Bartley Green. But the allegation was denied by education chiefs.

The campaign sparked a huge response from Evening Mail readers who shared their childrens' problems.