Ironbridge is a large village in the borough of Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire, England. Located on the bank of the River Severn, at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge, it lies in the civil parish of The Gorge. Ironbridge developed beside, and takes its name from, The Iron Bridge, a 100-foot (30 m) cast iron bridge that was built in 1779.
Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject matter ranges from the nativity of Jesus Christ, to gift-giving and merrymaking, to cultural figures such as Santa Claus, among other topics. Many songs simply have a winter or seasonal theme, or have been adopted into the canon for other reasons.
Neville John "Noddy" Holder is an English musician and actor. He was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the English band Slade, one of the UK's most successful acts of the 1970s. Known for his unique and powerful voice, Holder co-wrote most of Slade's material with bass guitarist Jim Lea including "Mama Weer All Crazee Now", "Cum On Feel the Noize" and "Merry Xmas Everybody". After leaving Slade in 1992, he diversified into television and radio work, notably starring in the ITV comedy-drama series The Grimleys (1999–2001).
"Fairytale of New York" is a song written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan and recorded by their London-based band the Pogues, featuring singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl on vocals. The song is an Irish folk-style ballad and was written as a duet, with the Pogues' singer MacGowan taking the role of the male character and MacColl the female character. It was originally released as a single on 23 November 1987 and later featured on the Pogues' 1988 album If I Should Fall from Grace with God.
"Walking in the Air" is a song written by Howard Blake for the 1982 animated film The Snowman based on Raymond Briggs' 1978 children's book of the same name. The song forms the centrepiece of The Snowman, which has become a seasonal favourite on British and Finnish television. The story relates the fleeting adventures of a young boy and a snowman who has come to life. In the second part of the story, the boy and the snowman fly to the North Pole. "Walking in the Air" is the theme for the journey. They attend a party of snowmen, at which the boy seems to be the only human until they meet Father Christmas with his reindeer, and the boy is given a scarf with a snowman pattern. In the film, the song was performed by St Paul's Cathedral choirboy Peter Auty, and reissued in 1985 and 1987.
"My Hometown" is a single by Bruce Springsteen off his Born in the U.S.A. album, that was the then-record-tying seventh and last top 10 single to come from it, peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It also topped the U.S. adult contemporary chart, making the song Springsteen's only #1 song on this chart to date. The song is a synthesizer-based, low-tempo number that features Springsteen on vocals.
"Merry Xmas Everybody" is a song by the British rock band Slade, released as a non-album single in 1973. The song was written by lead vocalist Noddy Holder and bassist Jim Lea, and it was produced by Chas Chandler. It was the band's sixth and final number-one single in the UK. Earning the UK Christmas number one slot in December 1973, the song beat another Christmas-themed song, Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", which reached fourth place. It remained in the charts for nine weeks until February 1974.
"Stay Another Day" is a pop song recorded by British boy band East 17. Released on 21 November 1994, it is their only number-one song on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the Christmas number one of 1994. "Stay Another Day" also topped the charts of Denmark, Ireland, and Sweden and peaked within the top 10 of the charts in several other countries, including Australia, France, and the Netherlands.
Elio Pace is an English singer, songwriter, pianist, producer, and arranger.
"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" is a Christmas song recorded by British glam rock band Wizzard. It was first released in December 1973 and, as with most Wizzard songs, was written and produced by the band's frontman Roy Wood—formerly of The Move and a founding member of Electric Light Orchestra. Despite the song's strong, long-lasting popularity, it has reached no higher than number four on the UK Singles Chart, a position it occupied for four consecutive weeks from December 1973 to January 1974. The song was beaten to the 1973 Christmas Number 1 spot by Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody", which remained at the top of the charts for five weeks, from December 1973 to January 1974.
Shona Bernadette McGarty is an English actress and singer known for the role of Whitney Dean in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.
Leigh Haggerwood is a contemporary composer based in London, UK. He specializes in songwriting, keyboards, singing, music production, audio engineering and sound-to-picture scoring. His credits include music for numerous TV shows and commercials which are broadcast around the world.
Connie Talbot's Christmas Album, sometimes referred to as Connie's Christmas Album or just Christmas Album, is the second album by the English child singer Connie Talbot, released on 24 November 2008. The album is made up of Christmas-themed songs, and was recorded in the middle of 2008. Shortly after the release, Pinnacle Entertainment, the United Kingdom distributor, went into administration. Despite this, the album had some success in Asia and the United States, and Talbot's third album, Connie Talbot's Holiday Magic, included many of the same tracks. Talbot appeared publicly to promote the album, including an appearance on ITV Central in December, and embarked on a tour, making stops around the world. Critics responded warmly to the album, describing Talbot's voice as "sweet".
Oliver Stanley Murs is an English singer, songwriter, dancer, television presenter, voice actor, and director. He first came to national attention for coming second in the sixth series of The X Factor in 2009. He is currently signed to RCA Records and Sony Music UK in the United Kingdom, and Columbia Records in the United States.
"Driving Home for Christmas" is a Christmas song written and composed by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea. The first version was originally released as the B-side to his single "Hello Friend" in 1986. In October 1988, a re-recorded version served as one of two new songs on Rea's first compilation album New Light Through Old Windows. It was issued as the fourth single from the album in December 1988, where it peaked at number 53 on the UK Singles Chart as the lead track of The Christmas EP.
Ronan Parke is an English singer from Poringland, Norfolk, UK who came runner-up in the fifth series of ITV show Britain's Got Talent in 2011 when he was 12 despite being the bookies' favourite to win. Since appearing on the show, he had signed a joint record deal with Sony Music and released a charted self-titled debut album Ronan Parke on 24 October 2011 which reached 22 on the Official Chart. He has also released a number of singles, including a Christmas single in 2012 and a charity single "Defined" in 2013 with the anti bullying organisation Kidscape. In 2018 he released a single titled "No Love " followed by an original album titled Found My Way and a Christmas single titled "Cheers".
Text Santa was a charity initiative set up in 2011 by ITV to support UK-based charities during the Christmas period. The appeal to the public is to donate money mainly via text donation and profits from merchandise. The telethons have been hosted by popular ITV presenters including Phillip Schofield, Christine Bleakley, and Ant & Dec. The 2015 appeal show was the last after ITV decided to axe the show to make way for an all-year appeal.
Ryan Pardey is a musician, singer, songwriter, promoter, tour manager, actor, left-handed guitar player, and DJ from Las Vegas. He is best known as the singer and songwriter for Halloween Town, which has featured members of The Killers, Louis XIV, and The Shys. Pardey is also well known for portraying Santa Claus on A Great Big Sled (2006) and Don't Shoot Me Santa (2007), two Christmas music videos released by The Killers. Pardey appeared as Santa again for The Killers in the two sequel Christmas singles, I Feel It in My Bones (2012) and Dirt Sledding (2015). He also appears in the videos and as illustrations in the artwork for both singles.
Daniel Campbell Smith is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the lead singer, primary songwriter and founder of the British rock band Bastille. The band formed in 2010 and gained mass popularity in 2013 when the song "Pompeii" was released with their album Bad Blood. The band then released their second album, Wild World in September 2016. In June 2019, the band released their third album Doom Days.
"Dirt Sledding" is a song by American rock band The Killers, featuring actor Richard Dreyfuss and the return of Ryan Pardey as Santa. It was released on November 27, 2015. The song is the third and final chapter in a trilogy storyline involving a grudge-holding Santa Claus, following tracks "Don't Shoot Me Santa" (2007) and "I Feel It in My Bones" (2012). The song marks the tenth consecutive year in which the band has released a Christmas song. As with their previous Christmas releases, all proceeds from this song go to AIDS charities as part of the Product Red campaign.
