The song, “Stay Another Day”, was originally recorded by East 17 in 1994
“Stay Another Day” was co-written by Dominic Hawken (b.1957) and Tony Mortimer (b.1970) of the boy band East 17 for their second studio album, “Steam” in 1994. It was released as the third single in December that year and would become the Christmas number one in the UK, remaining on top for four weeks and selling over a million copies, as well as being their biggest selling single of all time, reaching the top ten in over twenty countries and topping the chart in five.
The song has been recorded since by Girls Aloud in 2002 and by Kylie Minogue in 2016, but in 2020, a new version was recorded by UK ‘supergroup’ featuring the vocals of Boyzone’s Shane Lynch, 5ive‘s Abz Love, Another Level’s Dane Bowers and Phats & Small’s Ben Ofoedu, calling themselves Boyz On Block. Not only that, this new version also features the vocals of Tony Mortimer himself!
In 2021, British boy band The Wanted recorded a version of the song, which was released at the same time as their greatest hits album, “Most Wanted”. The third, so far, of three British boy bands to record the song.
But which version do you think is the best? EAST 17’s original, BOYZ ON BLOCK’s 2020 cover or THE WANTED’s 2021 cover?
Take a look at some of the other posts in this series and don’t forget to follow the playlist.
Talk About Pop Music 