‘That’s the Christmas No 1!’ How East 17 made festive favourite Stay Another Day

‘I want to tell Tesco cashiers, “That’s my song!”’ … Tony Mortimer, front, and from left at back, John Hendy, Brian Harvey and Terry Coldwell. Photograph: Laurence Watson

Tony Mortimer, singer, songwriter

I didn’t see the band going much further than two or three singles, but our early dance hits built up such a fanbase that we had to keep going. The dance era was coming to an end and Britpop was exploding, but then this American rock band Extreme had a huge hit with a power ballad, More Than Words, so I thought it would be OK to break the mould.