SLADE
MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY
THE Black Country rockers beat Midlands rivals Wizzard to the 1973 Christmas No 1 and were there for five weeks.
SONG’S EARNINGS: £512,000 a year. The top-selling Christmas
song sold a million in the UK. It’s estimated that about three billion people across the globe have heard it. Singer Noddy Holder (pictured), who co-wrote Merry Xmas Everybody with bass player Jimmy Lea, is worth about £20 million.
SINCE THEN: Holder — then aged 27, now 71 — left Slade, but remains a Tv regular. A fanatical Wolverhampton Wanderers fan, he still lives in the Midlands.