How East 17 Made 'Stay Another Day' with help from Dominic Hawken

'Stay Another Day' by East 17 has become a Christmas classic, and this year, on it's 30th anniversary, it's raising money for Nordoff And Robbins Music Therapy - with £1 going from each sale of the vinyl release (linked below). The song is memorable for lots of reasons, including some of the greatest poses on a single courtesy of Brian Harvey. But joking aside, it was written about the suicide of the brother of Tony Mortimer from the band a couple of years before - and Dominc Hawken was part of it's monumental success, reaching Christmas Number 1 in 1994: 

Tony didn't know the technology well enough to make proper demos, so Dominic Hawken and Rob Kean [who Mortimer gave songwriting credits to] helped him with the demo for Stay Another Day. Ian immediately saw its potential and started rearranging it, but Tony hated the new arrangement so we went back to the original. He told us: "Make it sound massive. Like Beethoven" and suggested tubular bells, which made it more Christmassy. Tee Green [vocal coach and backing vocalist] and the guys in the band laid down harmonies, which I then built up.

And here's a message from the store page:

As we honour the past 30 years of Stay Another Day, we also look forward to making a difference for the future. Together, we can ensure that the power of music continues to uplift and support those who need it. London Records will donate £1 from every item purchased to Nordoff and Robbins.

Read the full article here:  https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/dec/16/how-east-17-made-stay-another-day-christmas-no-1-brian-harvey

Get a copy of the single here, many have sold out: https://east17.tmstor.es/

We miss Dom and all he did for the community - here's his excellent EMOM performance:

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