Tony Mortimer, well known from East 17, told David Hennessy about 30 years of their Christmas number one Stay Another Day, the painful inspiration behind it and his Irish family.
Tony Mortimer, former lead singer and songwriter with East 17, is marking 30 years since their song Stay Another Day was Christmas number one.
To mark the occasion, Mortimer (54) has partnered with the music therapy charity, Nordoff and Robbins and the song is once again available with a special vinyl release.
It was in 1994 that the world first heard Stay Another Day.
The song came from East 17’s second album Steam after the band announced themselves with songs like House of Love.
Stay Another Day spent five weeks at number one, keeping Mariah Carey’s Christmas favourite All I Want For Christmas from the top of the charts.
It went to number one in eight counties, top 10 in many more and earned Tony a prestigious Ivor Novello award.
Many thought it was a love song but there was a sadder personal reason behind it for Tony as the song was written about his brother’s suicide at the age of 22.
Stay Another Day has been covered by everyone from Jorja Smith and Kylie Minogue to Girls Aloud and Chvrches.
In fact, in 2023 it amassed 20 million streams – almost double what it achieved the previous year
Tony is an East London lad.
Of course, the band took its name from the postcode of their native Walthamstow but Tony’s blood and DNA is 100% Irish with a mother from Tipperary and a father from Laois.
Can you believe it has been 30 years? Is it strange?
“It is.
“30 years is such a long time when you say it like that.
“It feels like a while ago, but it doesn’t feel like 30 years ago.
“I was obviously only six when I wrote it.
“It is 30 years and people are still talking about it.
“I did lots of other things 30 years ago no one’s talking about.”
I bet you just can’t believe how the song has endured…
“Has stayed.
“It’s stuck with Christmas and I think that’s what’s given it it’s longevity, the public have accepted it as a Christmas song and it’s become a Christmas hit and a Christmas staple for people.
“Lots of people say Christmas hasn’t started until they hear this song.
“That’s a very big compliment.
“I had no idea. I’d love to take credit and say I planned it all but I didn’t.”
The song was so personal to you you were even reluctant about releasing it, weren’t you?
“It was a lot more than reluctance.
“I was adamant it wasn’t going to be released but everyone that heard it kept commenting on it and saying they really liked it.
“I was like, ‘Can you just forget that one?’
“But it got released and it went on.
“I’m very proud of it.
“I’m very proud that the public have taken it to their hearts in such a way.
“It’s quite phenomenal.
“It’s overwhelming.
“It’s an overwhelming thing every year that it’s still around.
“This year, obviously, is the 30th anniversary so we’re doing a big thing with Nordoff and Robbins and music therapy.
“They are a great charity.
“They do so much for families that have got autistic children or elderly people that have got dementia.
“These music therapists go around and they help these people.
“As soon as I heard about it, I wanted to get involved and do something for it.
“That’s what makes me feel proud about Stay Another Day this year, because it’s doing something good and it’s giving something back.
“The record company have got behind it.
“They’ve got a Stay Another Day Christmas bauble and that raises money for the charity.
“It just feels nice rather than releasing it and taking money and going, ‘Oh, look, the song’s doing well’.
“The song did what it done 30 years ago.
“That was its time but for the 30th anniversary, I’m so pleased to be able to do something and give a little back.
“Even if it doesn’t get back in the charts to a high number, I still feel like it’s done so much and spread the word of music therapy and Nordoff and Robbins.”
Nordoff and Robbins are all about helping people through the power of music.
Was music a solace to you in your younger days?
“Yeah, that’s why we get involved with music, because it is so powerful.
“I think it’s just a magical thing.
“When I was a kid, it helped me so much through my turbulent teens.
“I think it does help teenagers a lot, music. They tend to listen to music more than they do their parents or authority.
“Music is a wonderful thing because it can heal. It takes us back in time.
“It helps people with dementia who are trapped and struggling and then they hear this song and it will take them back to these memories and they come alive again from it.
“Music therapy can heal us a lot more than we think.”
Made up of Tony, Brian Harvey, John Hendy and Terry Coldwell, East 17 emerged in 1991 with singles like House of Love. Their debut album Walthamstow would go to number one in 1992.
Was it all a bit crazy? Was it like one day everything was normal and the next you just couldn’t go outside?
“That’s exactly what happened.
“All of a sudden it really took off and it was crazy.
“It was like a whirlwind.
“Then we were getting telephone calls to the management saying they want you on a TV show in France, then they want you on TV shows in Germany and Sweden.
“Then we started plane hopping around Europe.
“France was always later with their singles so we’d have House of Love released in France but we’d have Deep released in England and we were going to different countries performing different songs that were in the charts.
“The travelling becomes hard work, the constant travel.
“I think a lot of a lot of the boy bands of that time found it very difficult.
“But I didn’t really see us as a boy band as such.
“We were an indie boy band, a ravey thing.
“Yeah, I thought we were a bit more like the Prodigy, but I was wrong.
“Back in the early, early days, just going up in an airplane was a pinch me moment.
“The whole ride was like a roller coaster ride.
“It was really nice.
“The industry was different then.
“It was a 20 billion pound a year, massive animal of a beast.
“But there’s so many pinch me moments, too many to mention.
“I mean, going to Asia, Australia and seeing the world.
“I think that was the greatest thing: Seeing the world, seeing all these different people and cultures and how we’re all one big, crazy family. We really are.”
But all the travelling did take a toll.
The band would be embroiled in controversy after some comments about drugs made by Brian Harvey.
The band would split in 1997. Although there have been attempted reunions, these did not last and East 17 exist today still with Terry Coldwell the only original member.
“The flame starts to go out but I think we were so burnt out and tired by then that you need a little break because it was crazy.
“I found the travelling quite crazy because you go into different time zones and it’s really hard for your body to adjust.
“In the end you’re just in this sort of whirlwind of half awake, half asleep, half ‘I don’t know where I am, I need that person to talk literally so I know what country I’m in. Oh, I’m in Sweden. Brilliant’.
“It was like that.
“It was an amazing lifestyle.
“We were all enjoying it.
“But unfortunately, they don’t last forever.”
Are they fond memories all in all?
“It was 30 years ago and it’s fond now because I look back at my youth.
“I look back when I was 10 stone lighter and when I could move around more.
“You should let go of the past but look back there.
“Don’t be a prisoner to it, but I am still aware it’s a massive part of how people see me and how they portray me.
“A lot of it I take with a pinch of salt because it’s not based on fact.
“It’s more based on misinformation sometimes and all sorts of stuff.
“It was a great time where we made some great records and we had a little impact for a couple of years.
“Looking back on it, it’s wonderful.
“I couldn’t complain and I wouldn’t change anything.”
I bet you’re glad you came along before the social media that we have now…
“We were lucky, weren’t we?
“I call it anti-social media because it’s just this outrageous.
“It has a good side as well because you’re not so controlled and manipulated by the media, you can actually have your own say now.”
To be Christmas number one must remain one of your highlights..
“Yeah, it was there for five weeks, we kept some real big numbers off the top of the charts.
“It was massive.
“It was a high point, certainly, of my songwriting career.
“The first album we released, I managed to write a number one album and then I wrote a number one single so that’s lovely.
“I remember the next year they were still playing it.
“And it’s still going on 30 years later.
“Hopefully it will continue but I do always think, ‘One day they’ll stop playing it, one day they’ll stop and they’ll move on from it’.
“Over the years people have told me what the song means to them and what it reminds them of.
“That’s what’s really important, is what it means to them.
“I do feel guilty sometimes telling people the story behind it and my inspiration because that’s not important to them.
“What’s important is what it means to them.
“I’ve let go of the song.
“And that was hard to do because I was very protective over it, but it’s the right thing to do.
“It’s the public’s song.
“They like it and they want to do what they want with it.
“And they’ve told me loads of things.
“Lots of people say the song makes them cry, and I’m sorry about that.
“I wish I wrote a happy one but they love it at the same time.
“It’s a nice sadness it gives them.
“But it means a lot to a lot of people. That’s such a compliment, such a high accolade to get.”
You’ve mentioned the song’s sad inspiration and the loss you suffered, does that mean it was emotional to perform?
“It still is.
“I know why I wrote every word and every line and what they mean to me and what they’re about so it’s always emotional.
“It still is emotional now.
“I’m playing it in church next week with a choir and a string quartet.
“It’s going to be amazing.
“It will be really emotional but you hold that back and you try and step aside from it.
“It’s going to be really fantastic.
“But of course, it’s always emotional.
“It can never stop being emotional because it is what it is, what it means to me.
“But I like to think I’m in control of it, 99% of the time, in control of my emotions.”
Tell us about your Irish family. I understand you have a lot of Irish blood..
“Well, my mum and dad have passed now but my mum was from Tipperary and my dad was from Laois so I’ve got hundreds of family over there.
“I’ve got Irish blood in me.
“I’ve done my genetic test and I’m 100% Irish apparently.
“All my family are Irish.
“I love it.
“I was over there in Dublin at the weekend, lovely city.
“My mum worked in Dublin before she came to England.
“My dad, he came from a family of ten so there’s a big family, I’ve got hundreds of cousins and aunts and uncles all over there. There’s not many in England actually, they’re mostly in Ireland.
“The first time I ever went over there, I think, was in East 17 and we played at The Point in Dublin.
“It was lovely to play there.
“Mum and dad had come over because there wasn’t much money over in Ireland at the time and they were looking for work.
“Then their son grows up and he gets himself into a right musical mess and ends up playing at The Point in Dublin.
“Backstage there was all my family and aunts and uncles were there so it was lovely.”
Do you feel at home in Ireland?
“Yeah, of course.
“I love the countryside and I’ve always loved the countryside since I was a child growing up in London.
“I think it’s ingrained in me genetically.
“It’s just lovely walking in the countryside.”
Do you think your musical inclinations come from your Irish heritage?
“Yeah, definitely.
“The Irish are very musical people so I was brought up around instruments and my mum won medals as an Irish dancer.
“Music and writing was ingrained and installed in us all through our childhood.”
So is a case of it getting to November every year and then you start hearing your song again?
“We push Christmas back in our house until 1 December.
“We kind of hold it back. “It starts leaking into your life, which is lovely, but we keep it back to the first of December and then we put the Christmas tree up and we put the decorations up.”
There is a big Christmas tree visible behind Tony as he chats to us on zoom so he is clearly in the spirit.
“If it was a big Christmas hit or not, we would still do this at Christmas because Christmas is just the most special time of the year.
“I know there’s so many people that struggle around Christmas as well but it’s a time where you can try and help them, that’s what Christmas is about.”
You said you often get reminded of your East 17 days and some of it is not based on fact. Is it a bit strange sometimes if you’re just going about your day to day and someone wants to talk about 30 years ago?
“Yeah it happens a lot, especially around the end of the year and around Christmas time.
“You can be minding your own business like I was minding my own business the other day.
“I got out of the station near Oxford Street and across the road, there’s this massive video complex where they play music all day and it was Stay Another Day.
“It just hit me, all these people were in there listening to Stay Another Day.
“It was amazing.
“It slaps you when you’re least expecting it or people will talk to you about it when you’re switched off and you’re somewhere else.
“But I accept it and do you know what? I think it’s better they’re doing that than not doing that because the silence is even more deafening.
“I wouldn’t like it any other way and I don’t know of it any other way.
“It’s been 30 years now, they still love the song and I’m very grateful.
“I do know they’ll change one day and they’ll all flip onto another song but for now, I just enjoy it.
“I give a little wry smile and this year I feel selfish but blessed that I could give a little something back with it.
“Every year it pops up.
“People talk less about the song now and more about the white coats.”
Stay Another Day is available on limited special edition 7 inch vinyl from London Records.
For all items sold via www.stayanotherday.co.uk London Records will be donating £1 to Nordoff and Robbins Music Therapy.
