Without its timeless holiday anthems, including Jona Lewie’s enduringly popular Stop The Cavalry, Jona Lewie’s, Christmas wouldn’t be the same without them. But he never anticipated that the holiday would be so popular.
Jona Lewie has to be up there alongside Mariah Carey, Slade and Wham! in terms of owning belting Christmas anthems. His huge hit, Stop The Cavalry, is a perennial favourite, regularly heard on the radio at this time of year, despite being released an incredible 45 years ago.
The 78-year-old singer, who resides in London with his partner, had no idea the single would be so popular, and it wasn’t even intended to be a festive track. It was never going to become a Christmas classic, I thought. John Lennon was shot the day Stop The Cavalry was released, he said to the Daily Express back in 2015. His death coincided with its release.
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“The following week, two of his tracks held the top two spots and my record was third,” Jona continued. “It’s wonderful to have a single that ranks alongside White Christmas and Slade’s Merry Xmas Everybody, getting airplay every December. Sometimes I hear it in a shop and I think, ‘Blimey, that’s me!”
In fact, it turns out the single was only released at Christmas because of one line in the song. Jona recently told the Daily Mail: “It featured the line ‘wish I was at home for Christmas’ so the record company released it in early December.”
However, after the release of the song, Jona continued to express his frustration with it. “I tried to get past my success with that song during the 1980s and 1990s.” I never had to find a regular job because it sold about three or four million copies! However, I’ve maintained my concentration.
He can’t stay too frustrated though, considering the money the track brings him each year – it’s estimated to earn around £120,000 in royalties every year, and could be raking in considerably more this year as it’s famously featured in the Christmas advert for supermarket chain Morrisons.
Jona claimed that “50% of my real income” is actually made up of Stop The Cavalry, according to the Guardian. I follow the path, though. That’s all that is published, since I write both the melody and the lyrics.
“And because I’m a musician, I can do the backing track for me, which is recording royalty.” I was a one-man show. Additionally, you get annual regurgitation and potential to make money every year if you can get a track associated with Christmas.
However, Jona was nearly cast out in the cold before his first major hit, making it almost impossible for Stop The Cavalry to occur. Before his 1980 album You’ll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties solidified my place, he said, “I was on the verge of being dropped from Stiff [Records]. It sold about 200,000 copies and climbed to 16th place. People liked the lyrics. Following an eight-year hiatus, it was fantastic to return to Top of the Pops. However, the idea of becoming a pop star was a little stifling.
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Source: Mirror
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