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.

I got the tune for Stay Another Day first, but I couldn’t get the melody to go anywhere so I left it as it was. The title was bouncing around my head because a friend’s father was dying in hospital but suddenly rallied and survived another 24 hours: he was obviously trying to stay, which broke my heart. The lyrics also drew on my brother’s suicide a couple of years earlier. There are some very poignant lines that mean secret things to me, disguised within an ambiguous love song seemingly about a relationship that is over.

It was so personal that I didn’t want to release it as a single, but our manager Tom Watkins went: “That’s the Christmas No 1!” and I relented. We recorded it in August. I wanted to sing the lead, but everyone said Brian [Harvey] should, even though he didn’t like the song and didn’t want to. I was a bit insulted and was sent home while he sang it wonderfully.

There is nothing Christmassy about Stay Another Day, but I remember talking to producers Ian Curnow and Phil Harding about the production and telling them I envisaged an orchestra and a big crescendo. Ian said: “That’s my forte” and they did an amazing job. We called them our salvage squad, because they made us sound much better.

We made a cheap video around a piano but the record company didn’t like it, so they gave us more money to make the infamous one in white parkas. The song was No 1 for five weeks and I won an Ivor Novello award, which I’d never even heard of before. Every year I wonder if this is the year the song will stop being played, but it has been 30 years and it’s wonderful and humbling that people still connect with it. If it comes on in Tesco, part of me wants to tell the cashier: “That’s my song!” People ask me: “How do you write a Christmas No 1?” I tell them I don’t know – I just wrote a song that was No 1 at Christmas.

Phil Harding, producer

Ian and I went from working with Stock, Aitken and Waterman to working with Tom Watkins and East 17. Tom wanted us to make their first single, House of Love, sound like Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Once it was a hit, we were away.

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.

When it came to the lead vocal, Brian said: “I’m not singing this shit!” and threw his headphones on the floor. I think we were there for nearly two days getting that vocal performance out of him, but a distinctive voice like that makes a hit.

Tony’s demo had these terrible Phil Collins-style drums which sounded unlistenable with the orchestra, so at 2am I laid down a mix without the bass and drums. Then I went on holiday, intending to finish it when I got back, but Tom went: “Everybody loves it. Don’t change a thing.”

In November, Tracy Bennett from London Records said: “Have you got a bet on for Christmas No 1?” The song was 40/1 or something and charted at No 7. The following week I was driving up to Suffolk listening to the chart rundown and I thought: “It’s either dropped out of the chart altogether or we’ve got a No 1” and there it was. It was an incredible moment – and because I’d put £100 or something on it, I won several thousand pounds.

• A 30th anniversary clear vinyl edition of Stay Another Day is on sale in aid of Nordoff and Robbins music therapy. Phil Harding’s book Pop Music Production: Manufactured Pop and Boybands of the 1990s is published by Routledge