Your new Christmas single is over 50 years old tell us the story of the song. The basis of the song was first written and recorded in 1967 by Alf Geoghegan, the then owner of Liverpool’s famous Cavern Club, as a Christmas gift for his daughter Debbie. It has remained unheard outside of the immediate family until now.

How were you chosen to sing this song, why Michael Armstrong? I met Debbie (the daughter whom the original song was written for) and her husband Nigel, at an Art Gallery in Penny Lane, Liverpool. I gave them a copy of my debut album and they became fans of my music and good friends. They still have connections with The Cavern and arranged for me to launch my album at the venue – a dream come true! Debbie gave me a copy of her fathers song, explained the history, and gave me permission to work on it should I ever desire. With the 60th Anniversary of The Cavern looming I thought now was the perfect time to do just that.

And Brian Bennett (The Shadows) and his son Warren are involved, how did that come about? I’ve been in the studio for the last few months recording my next album and chose Warren Bennett to produce it with me, as we have such similar tastes in music and get along so well. He’s a huge lover of 1960’s music and so was only too keen to work on The Cavern Christmas song. Warren’s Dad, the legendary Brian Bennett, is still very active as a musician and composer so we just had to find the right moment to ask him! It’s a great coming together of the past and the present just like the song itself. Even more special is that Brian played with The Shadows at The Cavern in it’s 1960’s heyday.

The song is very much a taste of traditional Christmas pop songs, was that your intention? Absolutely, it couldn’t really have been approached any other way as that’s exactly what it is. We’ve updated the chord structure and the lyrics and made it a little more interesting but it’s essentially a 1960’s lost classic and that’s how it had to sound.

It feels as if this song is a journey back in time, did you pick up any untold pop history stories along the way? It’s been a wonderful journey back in time for everyone who’s been involved in it. Debbie has some incredible stories of her time at The Cavern as a young girl – imagine that! My favourite has to be the day that Paul McCartney turned up unannounced asking if he could show his new girlfriend Linda around the place. He treated them to a rendition of his brand new song ‘Hey Jude’ on the piano. WOW!!!!

How does Debbie Greenberg feel about the song, it must bring back a lot of happy memories for her. I was really nervous about first sending my version of the song to Debbie as we had made some significant changes and this was such a personal song for her that she had lived with for 50 years. Thankfully she absolutely loved it and was extremely emotional upon hearing it. I think it’s been a bit of a whirlwind journey for her.

Tell us about the video. Debbie launched her own book of memoirs ‘Cavern Club: The Inside Story’ at The Cavern and asked me to perform the song there. It meant a weekend in Liverpool so I took a video camera and spent my time shooting scenes around the city and the launch itself. We then mastered the track at Abbey Road Studios (where else?) and I took some footage of that too. With this film and with Debbie’s own photograph collection I put together the video that tells the story of the song. It seems to have come out OK and I know that Debbie again was very emotional upon seeing it!

What’s next on the horizon for Michael Armstrong in 2017? I’m well into recording my new album and we hope to release this in the summer of 2017 when I will be performing a headline tour of the UK with my band.

Finally, how will you be spending Christmas day? For the first time ever I am going away for Christmas! My immediate family and my parents are escaping to avoid any cooking and washing up of our own. I can’t wait!

For more information visit:
www.michaelarmstrongmusic.co.uk
www.cavernclub.org