By Mark Nobes, chief editor
"Merry Christmas Everyone" by Shakin' Stevens may be an 80s Christmas classic, but it has re-entered the UK singles chart every year since 2007, bringing the song to a whole new generation of listeners. In 2022, the song reached No.12 on Dec 9th for one week. It has now spent over 70 weeks in the Top 100, which should earn Shaky enough royalties to keep him well stocked up on mince pies, at least!
For many, it still remains a firm favourite at Christmas parties and on supermarket playlists. It's also played every Christmas without fail in my household, and it certainly gets me up and out of my chair, despite the creaking knees these days!
The single was Shaky's fourth and last No.1 single, and was written by the Scottish songwriter and producer Bob Heatlie, and produced by the Welsh singer/songwriter and producer Dave Edmunds.
7 inch vinyl sleeve (1986 UK reissue)
It starts with a young blonde girl boarding a plane to Santa World. Then we see her get off a bus with Shaky, who is dressed in a long, grey overcoat with a red scarf. Shaky also meets Santa and lots of other children, and we see scenes of them playing in the snow, building a snowman and sledging. Shaky joins in with a snowball fight and after hitting the snowman, he gives chase. Amongst the people in the video are Shaky's own son and daughter and their friends, as well as his band members.
"Merry Christmas Everyone" was also a No.3 hit on the Official German Charts and the Austrian main Top 40 chart. It reached No.6 on the Danish Tracklisten chart and No.10 on Belgium's Ultratop chart.
The B-side "With My Heart" featured as track 10 on the album Lipstick Powder and Paint.
By the time of the single's release, the Welsh rock & roll singer had already achieved success with three No.1 singles in the 80s, with "This Ole House" (1981), "Green Door" (1981) and "Oh Julie" (1982). Overall, Shaky achieved 35 Top 40 hits, 28 of these in the eighties.
