Detroit Youth Choir Cover GN’R to Honor Victims of Gun Violence

The Detroit Youth Choir have released an emotional cover of Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite for Destruction anthem “Sweet Child O’ Mine” to honor victims of gun violence.

The song choice was inspired by 11-year-old Layla Salazar who was one of the 19 victims who lost their lives during the shooting at Robb Elementary school in Ulvade, Texas earlier this year. She and her father, Vinnie Salazar, listened to the Guns N’ Roses track together every morning when he drove her to school.

“Me and Layla would jam to this on the way to school, and it’s the only thing that’s bringing me peace right now,” Salazar wrote in a Facebook post the day after Layla was killed [via Detroit Free Press].

The video for Detroit Youth Choir’s cover of the GN’R song features photos of Layla, which were provided by her father, and footage of young musicians singing the song in unison inside of a school, wearing matching T-shirts that list some of the names of cities where high-profile school shootings have occurred over the last several years. Part of the song’s melody is sang in a cappella, and a few original rap verses were added throughout it as well.

“This song asks a simple question — ‘Where do we go now?‘ While progress has been made, this is no time for complacency, as the lyrics of the rap in the song say, ‘It can’t take 10 years to ask what’s next,‘” the choir’s artistic director, Anthony T. White said in the description of the video.

“This version of ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ is a poignant call to action from today’s youth to all grown-ups to stay at the table, show respect to one another and continue to work together to find solutions to make our schools and communities safer from gun violence.”

See the video below, and donate to Matthew and Camila McConaughey’s Just Keep Livin Foundation’s Uvalde Relief Fund here.

Detroit Youth Choir Cover Guns N’ Roses to Honor Victims of Gun Violence