Saturday, 9 December 2006

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Slade bells ring for millionaire Noddy Holder

Everyone loves the Brummie ex-rocker

Ex-Slade frontman Noddy Holder will always remember Christmas 1973 as the year that made him a millionaire.

His song Merry Xmas Everybody topped the charts and ever since it's been played every December as a classic festive anthem. Noddy, who was awarded an MBE in 1999, is now a national treasure.

‘It’s been back in the charts eight times,’ Noddy, now 60, told the Daily Mail. ‘I honestly don’t know how much it’s made, but it must be more than a million for each of us. It’s my pension plan.’

Although Noddy left the band in 1991 – after two decades together – he’s not stopped working.

'I’ve done maybe nine advertising campaigns in the last 10 years,' he reveals. 'They must’ve done their research and found that people like me.

'If that’s on my gravestone, that’d be the best compliment I could ever have: “They liked me, and I made them laugh”.’

The single Merry Xmas Everybody was re-released on 4 December. The album The Very Best Of Slade is out now.

Alexandra Wenman