East 17 star reveals tragic pain of hearing their massive Christmas hit every year-Robert Oliver-Entertainment – Metro

East 17 released their Christmas classic 30 years ago this month (Picture: Brian Rasic/Getty Images)

East 17’s Stay Another Day is a Christmas classic in the UK – the song was the official Christmas number one 30 years ago this month.

The song has sold over a million copies in Britain since its release, and it’s been covered by dozens of artists, including the likes of Girls Aloud.

But for one member of East 17 – who wrote the song and won an Ivor Novello Award for it – Stay Another Day only brings back painful memories.

The song was written by Tony Mortimer, who was a founding member of the House of Love chart-topping boyband from their original inception in 1991.

Many believe to this day that Stay Another Day tells the story of a man pleading with his girlfriend not to leave – the Christmas bells were added afterwards to give the song extra emotional weight.

But Tony, now 54, actually wrote the song about something much more tragic from his personal life that he’s now ‘reminded of’ every single year.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, he revealed what he goes through every time the rest of us break out the Christmas playlists and compilation CDs.

‘It usually starts around October. I accept it, but it’s always been difficult, a two-edged sword, for my family. People come up to me and say the song means a lot to [them] … I’m not ready for that yet.’

Stay Another Day was actually written by Tony in the early 90s after his older brother Oliver tragically took his own life in the summer of 1990.

‘I’ve got used to it, because it’s been so long. It never stops, though, and it’s every year. I said to the missus this morning: “Going into town today to do some interviews. They’re gonna remind me that my brother killed himself.”‘

Tony Mortimer wrote the song about his late brother (Picture: Kate Green/Getty)

He continued: ‘It’s such a heavy word, suicide, and people do struggle at this time of year. That is the dark side of [the song] – but the light side of it is that it’s become a Christmas snowman!’

Tony also told the Belfast Telegraph that he’s prevented the song from being re-released by East 17’s label in 2024, instead choosing to release it via the mental health charity Nordoff and Robins.

After solid chart success in the early 1990s, East 17 – comprised of Tony, Brian Harvey, John Hendy, and Terry Coldwell – finally landed a number one with Stay Another Day.

East 17 beat Mariah Carey to Christmas number one in 1994 (Picture: Mick Hutson/Redferns)

It wasn’t originally written as a Christmas song, but a late November release meant the band wore those famous winter jackets in the video while ringing bells were added to the instrumental.

Stay Another Day went to number one in the first week of December 1994 and stayed there until January 1995, beating Mariah Carey, Oasis, and Rednex to the Christmas number one – announced on Christmas Day.

The song has remained a firm festive favourite ever since, racking up 65million streams on Spotify over the years.

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