Michelle Wright, one of the most-awarded artists in Canadian country music history, will join the bill for a concert next month in Charlottetown to help raise funds for a project that honours a fallen female soldier.

Wright is part of a musical line-up that includes Lennie Gallant, Cynthia MacLeod and Patricia Murray. Richard Wood will also be making a creative appearance while three more local entertainers are expected to be confirmed for the show by next week.

Close to 300 of the available 1,000 tickets have been sold for the Nichola Goddard Light Up Papua New Guinea fundraising concert on Nov. 7 at the Fieldhouse at UPEI.

Concert tickets are $20 and can be purchased at www.nicholagoddard.com (click on events and follow the links).

Duncan MacIntosh, who is helping to organize the concert, says Wright, like the other entertainers, are performing for free. Wright was performing for the Canadian troops in Afghanistan on May 17, 2006 when Nichola Goddard was killed in a military operation against Taliban forces. She was the first Canadian woman killed in action since the Second World War and the first female combat soldier to die on the front lines in Afghanistan.

“She (Wright) says Nichola changed her life and that is why she is joining us -- just to do anything she can,’’ said MacIntosh.

“You want to do something. You just feel so sad.’’

Wright has over 30 major music industry awards to her credit and a string of 23 top 10 hits on Canadian country radio, including seven number one singles. The first Canadian-born artist in the modern era of country music to have a top 10 hit in America (Take It Like A Man, 1992) and to win a major U.S. music industry award (Academy of Country Music Top New Female Artist, 1993), Wright has been drawing rave reviews for her expressive voice and distinctive style since her 1990 self-titled debut album for Arista/Nashville.

Tim and Sally Goddart of Charlottetown are organizing the special concert to raise money to fund to raise money to fund 1,100 first aid stations and birthing centres in rural villages as part of the Light Up Papua New Guinea project. The project was launched following Goddard’s death to improve the quality and functionality of health-care facilities in rural Papua New Guinea by installing solar powered LED lighting systems so that health facilities can be used in the evening.

Dinner on campus at McMillan Hall can be taken in along with the concert for $125 per person. The dinner features as guest speaker CTV’s Lisa LaFlamme who spent 12 days embedded with Goddard and a platoon of nearly 40 troops on Operation Peacemaker, a mission intended to gather intelligence and root out Taliban operatives in southern Afghanistan.

Half of the 150 dinner tickets have already been sold. Dinner tickets can be purchased by calling 569-5665.

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