East 17 - Stay Another Day (Sarm Studios Version) [2022 HD Remaster]
"Stay Another Day" is a song recorded by British boy band East 17, released on 21 November 1994 by London Records as the third single from their second album, Steam (1994). The song was written by band member Tony Mortimer with Rob Kean and Dominic Hawken, and produced by Phil Harding and Ian Curnow. It is the band's only number-one song on the UK singles chart, becoming the Christmas number one of 1994. "Stay Another Day" topped the charts in 15 countries including Denmark, Ireland, Sweden, and Zimbabwe and peaked within the top 10 in several others including Australia, France, and the Netherlands. Two different music videos were produced for the song.
"Stay Another Day" was the third single from East 17's second album, Steam, following up "Around the World" and the album's title track. It was their first ballad, written by the band's lead songwriter Tony Mortimer about the suicide of his brother Ollie. Mortimer explained:
It was based on my brother's suicide and losing someone. What would you do if you had one more day with a loved one?... It was all based on conversations I'd had with my brother and I was trying to change it into a love song about the end of a relationship.
Mortimer was aided in the composition by his co-manager Rob Kean and songwriter Dominic Hawken, who had once been Boy George's keyboard player. Christmas bells were included towards the end of the song to appeal to the lucrative Christmas singles market. The most familiar arrangement is unusual among pop records in that it uses almost no drums, save for timpani rolls during the introduction and towards the end of the track.
In late November 1994, "Stay Another Day" entered at number seven on the UK Singles Chart. The following week it climbed to its peak of number one. For the last three weeks of the year, "Stay Another Day" faced stiff competition for the 1994 Christmas number-one from the popular Mariah Carey single "All I Want for Christmas Is You". It outsold Carey's hit single for the weeks commencing 11, 18 and 25 December, selling roughly 130,000, 120,000 and 160,000 copies respectively. The sales lead over Carey in the week before Christmas was around 60,000, and thus securing 1994's Christmas number one to East 17.
It was the 3rd biggest selling boy band single of the 1990s in the United Kingdom and 35th overall of the decade. As of December 2024, the single has current UK sales of 1.6 million.
Tony Mortimer won an Ivor Novello songwriting award for this song. The single was also nominated for 'Best Single' at the 1995 Brit Awards.
"Stay Another Day" was not released as a single in the United States but did receive limited Christmas-time airplay on KYSR-FM "Star 98.7" in Los Angeles in 1996, owing to the market's influence and exposure to international hit singles. After its success in the UK it went on to become a major hit all over Europe and internationally, topping the charts in fifteen countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa as well as reaching the Top 3 in Australia.
In the decades following release the song has become a belated discovery in North America (it wasn't promoted or released in either North or South America) appearing on multiple Christmas playlists, both corporate and consumer, and contributing to the song's yearly 20 million streams. American alternative rock musician Courtney Love publicly stated that she is a fan of the song and that it makes her Christmas playlist every year.
The song received largely positive reviews from critics. Ross Jones from The Guardian felt that "teen-town's hard men show their soft side on a Christmas number one contender" and "a beautiful thing". In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton noted, "East 17 prove that there is more to them than the usual 'bad boy' image and sing in astonishingly perfect harmony to create what is certain to be one of the biggest seasonal successes, especially when you consider they were a fixture of the Christmas charts last year with 'Its Alright'." Pan-European magazine Music & Media wrote, "Like anybody else the Walthamstow posse knows that this time of the year is reserved for woeful ballads. The "less sad", "even more sad" and "not so sad" remixes, however, have a club spirit." Alan Jones from Music Week gave the song a top score of five out of five and named it Pick of the Week, writing, "This exquisitely arranged, close harmony ballad, piano-led and draped with strings, is a hot favourite for the Christmas number one but may fail by being released a tad too early. East 17's most accomplished piece of work yet, and a song that will be played in years to come, long after Steam has evaporated." Jordan Paramor from Smash Hits viewed it as "a very sexy, stylish love song." Sunday Mirror commented, "A tinkling piano, a gorgeous melody, a sweet and soulful lead vocal those little devils East 17 have gone all angelic for Christmas. The result, a slow and lovelorn ballad called 'Stay Another Day'".
Two music videos were made for the song. One video features the band recording and performing the song in a studio. The other video features the band in a black background. The group are seen wearing white fur trimmed parkas and black leather jackets. A woman wearing a dress and veil also appears whilst it snows. The latter video is shown usually around Christmas, while the first version is shown outside Christmas. The black-and-white video version was made available on YouTube in 2017.
British newspaper The Guardian ranked "Stay Another Day" number 41 in their list of "The 100 greatest UK No 1s" in 2020. Ben Beaumont-Thomas wrote:
One of the greatest Christmas No 1s of all time is a triumph of emotional candour. It resembles a breakup song with its talk of final kisses, but was written by Tony Mortimer after his brother killed himself. The pain of those sudden calls of 'stay now' is so acute, voicing the suddenness of loss.
The song has featured on Christmas compilation albums and is usually a mainstay on radio during the festive period. However, scepticism remains within the British public as to whether the song should be labelled a Christmas song. In December 2017, YouGov carried out a poll asking the British public whether they agreed if "Stay Another Day" is a Christmas song. Just over one third, or 34% disagreed, while 29% agreed. This left a large proportion of 37% in the don't know category, which includes all of those who were unaware of the song.
According to analysis of PRS for Music figures, it was estimated that the song generates £97,000 of royalties per year.
