Ellie's song for the children

Ellie Williams - supporting the NSPCC's fundraising campaign

A song by Exeter singer songwriter Ellie Williams about her baby nephew Fin is helping the NSPCC's Christmas 2009 campaign.

The song is on Ellie's debut album, Unseen, released in November 2009.

The proceeds of Fin's Song will go to the children's charity as it launches a campaign to raise £50 million.

"It's sad that a third of all calls from South West children go unanswered at the moment because there aren't enough volunteers," said Ellie.

Speaking on the Judi Spiers programme on BBC Radio Devon, Ellie said she was delighted her song would be helping the NSPCC/Childline campaign.

"They need to raise £50 million. Between us, we were thinking what we could do and the NSPCC and Childline heard one of the songs on the album.

"And we had a little discussion and thought it would be really cool to release it (Fin's Song) as a single in the run up to Christmas."

Ellie's debut album Unseen - released in November 2009

The song was written about Ellie's baby nephew: "I was babysitting him, he was fast asleep, and all of a sudden I found these tears coming into my eyes, thinking how beautiful he was, how fragile he was and all the thoughts he would have in his head and what would be holding for him in his life.

"It was just really overwhelming."

Ellie, 29, started work on the album in 2008 after she raised the money to record it via the Sellaband website, where artists upload their songs and invite listeners to invest in them so that they can record an album.

The target figure is $50,000 (approximately £30,000), and Ellie raised it in record time - just 49 days.

The money pays for the artist to make an album with a top producer, in Ellie's case, Tony Platt, who has worked with acts including Bob Marley, Paul McCartney, The Who, The Rolling Stones and Traffic.

She gathered together a band of local musicians and set about rehearsing at her mother's home near Exeter, where BBC Devon was invited to listen and take photos.

Smidge the cat took part in rehearsals at Ellie's mum's house

Finally, with all the songs chosen, Ellie headed into the studio with Tony to record her debut album - something she feared would never happen because of setbacks.

There are 11 songs on the CD, all of them penned by Ellie.

Ellie, who still works in a shop in Exeter city centre, is really pleased with the end product - and the response: "It's been absolutely crazy. We've had people contacting the website in volumes we've never had before. It's been totally dream-like."

The good news for those who invested in her talent is that they get a share of the record sales.

Fans will also get a chance to see Ellie live in the coming months.

On Monday 16 November, she'll be performing the Unseen album at the CD's launch at Exeter Phoenix.

And in 2010, Ellie will be on the road for much of the time: "It's quite exciting because we've had a couple of offers to spend New Year in the Caribbean," said Ellie.

"Then in the spring and summer we'll be in the UK and in the autumn in the US. We're trying to book gigs for February onwards."

Ellie Williams website