East 17 never expected Stay Another Day to be Christmas hit: ‘The crowds lose their minds’-Dave Freak-Entertainment – Metro

East 17 taking it back to 1994 (Picture: Richard Goldschmidt)

Despite being one of the biggest festive tunes of all time, East 17’s Stay Another Day isn’t technically a Christmas banger. ‘It turned into a Christmas song [but] it’s a song about loss,’ Terry Coldwell says about the track, which bandmate Tony Mortimer penned following the death by suicide of Tony’s brother, Ollie.

‘Every year I get loads of messages saying it was played at someone’s funeral – it’s reached into a lot of people’s hearts.’

Released in 1994, the ballad gave the band their only UK Number One, spending five weeks in the top spot.

‘We recorded the demo and then it went to our producers, Harding and Curnow, and they stuck in these tubular bells and made it all Christmassy. We got it back and were all, “Wow!” No one thought it would be a massive Christmas hit at the time, though.’

After two weeks at Number One in early December, it initially seemed unlikely to reach Christmas – facing competition from Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You.

Terry remembers clearly chomping his Christmas dinner, with his parents, when a Radio One presenter revealed East 17 had retained their pole position. ‘The rush I got was unbelievable,’ he says.

(L-R) Brian Harvey, John Hendy, Tony Mortimer and Terry Coldwell at the start of East 17 (Picture: Tim Roney/Getty Images)

Stay Another Day was East 17’s only UK Number One hit (Picture: Supplied)

Recalling meeting superstar Mariah at Top Of The Pops, Terry adds: ‘She was a really nice lady.

‘She didn’t say anything about us keeping her off Number One, but I’m sure she had the hump about it, “I got a banger here! It’ll be Number One everywhere!” Ha!’

Adding to Stay Another Day’s appeal is the memorable video (which has just enjoyed a HD restoration), capturing East 17 in fur-trimmed white parkas, as snow drifts down.

‘The record company hated it – they said we didn’t look rough enough, that it made us look like a soft boy band. So we shot another, us just in the studio – but the one in the white coats is such an iconic video.’

Some 28 years later, arriving on stage wearing white parkas to perform Stay Another Day live, the response still stuns Terry.

‘I’m not exaggerating, but the crowds lose their minds. We have to let them calm down before we can start singing – every time!’

Discussing the track’s popularity, and new life on TikTok, he adds: ‘It’s absolutely mad – all these years later, it’s almost as big as it was when it was Number One.’

(L-R) Brian, Terry, and John at the 1998 MOBO Awards (Picture: JMEnternational/Getty Images)

Terry, Tony Mortimer, Brian Harvey and John Hendy were overnight stars when their debut single, 1992’s House Of Love, became the first of 11 Top Ten singles. Pitted against cleaner-cut contemporaries, such as Take That, East 17 were seen as pop’s ‘bad boys’.

‘We were just ourselves, to be honest. It wasn’t an image that was put on us. I remember at the beginning the manager saying “you can’t smoke, you can’t say you’ve got girlfriends, you can’t say anything…” And we said, ‘Nah! we’re just gonna be normal.’ And it worked.

‘A lot of our influences came from America: American hip-hop – hence the baggy clothes we used to wear – and American R&B. There was just a gap in the market as there were all these boys bands who were all going down the same route – your girlfriend’s mother would love to meet them! And then you had us.

Performing in Germany (Picture: Frank Hempel/United Archives via Getty Images)

East 17 took influence from US hip-hop and R&B, both popular genres at the time (Picture: Alamy)

‘I remember a full page in the News Of The World that said East 17 are going on tour, so you’d better lock up your daughters, and that kind of said it all really,’ Terry laughs. However, he draws a line at discussing any specific bad behaviour. ‘Put it this way, everyone said we should’ve been a rock’n’roll band – that’s all I’m saying really.’

Despite huge international success, relationships within the ranks quickly soured.

‘Certain band members didn’t like each other,’ Terry recalls. ‘In the beginning, we worked seven days a week and didn’t really have time to have dramas, but as time went on…’

‘We were just ourselves,’ Terry (bottom right) says (Picture: Tim Roney/Getty)

Eventually, the band split. But there have been numerous reunions since as original members drifted in and out, with Terry a constant presence. Today, he’s the de facto custodian of East 17’s legacy, performing around 100 shows a year, as well as recording new material, aided by Robbie Craig and former British gymnast Joe Livermore.

‘There’s no trouble, no leaders, everyone is on the same team, me, Robbie and Joe. We just love what we do and we’re smashing it.’

East 17 play Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, tomorrow

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