Festive favourites

“Merry Xmas, Everybody” No.1, 1973 Slade’s chart-topper was recorded in New York while the band toured the world. Flamboyant guitarist, Dave Hill – remembered for his trademark high-heel boots and dis

→ For 40 years, George Michael’s Last Christmas was the bridesmaid. The nearly-but-never-quite. The most successful single never to reach number one, it was pop’s great injustice. And then the spell b

“Yeah, he loved the whole thing,” says his bandmate, Queen drummer Roger Taylor. “You know, the house would have been full of all these decorations. He loved his decorations. And he had a great, unerr

Was it time for Stephen to put the sparkle back into Christmas?

As I look ahead to Christmas this year, I feel that familiar cocktail of excitement and mild dread. The children are growing up fast now – and who knows how many more years of ‘magic’ we have left? La

John Rutter at 80 Donald Macleod visits John Rutter at home in this celebratory series of Composer of the Week, looking back at the highs and lows of his extraordinary career. We hear about the full b