Mel Tormé: Last News

A Strictly Come Dancing legend, Laurence Holloway, has sadly passed away.The former musical director on both Strictly Come Dancing and the talk show Parkinson, died at the age of 86, his family confirmed.The English composer, who began his career as a pianist in dance bands, passed away after a "short illness" on Thursday 9 January, his daughter Abigail Holloway revealed to the PA news agency. Throughout his illustrious career, the jazz musician collaborated with big names such as Engelbert Humperdinck, Sir Tom Jones, Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Sammy Davis Jr, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Mel Torme, Bob Monkhouse, Barry Humphries and Ronnie Corbett, as well as his late wife Marion Montgomery.

Mariah Carey has revealed in an interview what her favourite Christmas song of all time is – and it is not ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’.In an appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show on Wednesday (November 15), the singer was asked for her own yuletide favourite, and the title that came to mind was not her 1994 classic.“I have to say, my favourite all-time Christmas song is Nat ‘King’ Cole’s version of ‘[The] Christmas Song’, that’s my favourite,” the singer admitted.‘The Christmas Song’, which is known for its refrain of “chestnuts roasting on an open fire”, was written in 1945 by Robert Wells and Mel Tormé, and was recorded a number of times by Cole, most successfully in 1961.In addition, Hudson pressed Carey for her favourite festival films, to which she replied: “I love Elf” and “I like Miracle on 34th Street, the original one,” referring to the 1947 version.Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ and Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’ both re-entered the UK Singles Chart earlier than ever this year, with the two festive classics reaching number 40 and 37 respectively this weekend (November 10).It is likely that both songs, as well as others, will remain in the charts throughout the lead up to Christmas over the coming weeks.Back in 2020, Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ became a UK Number One for the first time ever, 26 years after it was first released.“Happy Christmas UK!! We finally made it!!!,” the singer said at the time. “We are keeping the Christmas spirit alive together despite how dismal the year’s been.