Hollie Steel

Hollie Steel, as you know, will be attending the Christmas light switch on ceremony in Preston this Saturday. Lucie Jones, the X Factor contestant who controversially lost out to John and Edward had also been scheduled to appear at the ceremony, but she has had to pull out due to TV committments, reports the Lancashire Evening Post. Lucie will be replace by Jamie Archer, aka Jamie Afro, who was voted out of the X Factor in last week’s show.

As most of you know, Hollie Steel is currently in Hong Kong. Her mum Nina said on Facebook:

Hi, Hollie is having a lovely time in Hong Kong. Last night she perfomed wonderfully at the Tvb television studios. Looking forward to next week when pre orders (for the cd) should be available. The picture on the front of the Cd is lovely.

Hollie’s visit to Hong Kong has also been reported in the Hong Kong newspaper, The Hong Kong Standard, who interviewed Hollie.

Hollie spoke about meeting Susan Boyle, saying: “She  is very nice, and we write letters to each other.”

The locals in Hong Kong have gone crazy for Hollie, and she had to sign loads of autographs when she visited Ocean Park, a marine based theme park in south Hong Kong.

Nina spoke to the paper about Hollie’s path to stardom: “I believe Hollie is just as good as Charlotte Church” she said. “But I’m very strict. She will never have a chance to get into drug or drinking problems.”

Despite Hollie taking a few days off each month for performances, she is still up to date with her school work.

The article in the paper also revealed that Hollie’s album will contain the track “When She Loved Me” from Toy Story 2.

Hollie says she would like to be both a pop and an opera singer. She said: “When I turn 16, I will audition for The X Factor.”

Hollie made her Hong Kong singing debut at Lok Fu Shopping Centre this afternoon.

Hollie Steel will be attending the ceremony to turn on the lights in Preston on November 21st. The main show will start at 4pm with the switch on scheduled for around 5.30pm, according to the Lancashire Evening Post.

Also attending the switch on will be Lucie Jones, the X Factor finalist dumped by Simon Cowell in favour of John and Edward, girl band Mini Viva, former Bucks Fizz member Sally Jaxx and a previous X Factor finalist Laura White.

Laura White will open the show at 2pm, where a series of support acts will perform before the main show. For full details, see this article.

Dave D’Mello has been updating us on the release of Hollie’s single via Hollie’s Facebook page.
Dave says:

Myself and Nina are working very hard behind the scenes on the new release “Where Are You Christmas?”… The single is finished and sounds absolutely amazing, and the distribution to HMV, Amazon, and Play.com has been signed and agreed for the CD’s. It will also be available on iTunes, Amazon, Napster, Emusic, and Rhapsody as a download.

So you will be able to buy your CD from places other than HMV, or download it digitally.

By next week we will also have the presale link for the CD at HMV. Please, please, please be aware that if somebody buy’s multiple CD’s (We mean hundreds to sell on eBay etc) it could be marked as Chart Rigging, and not entered into the charts here. Many thanks to all for keeping up the support, and now the Steel’s are back home they will continue to keep the (Facebook) site updated, but please understand this is the busiest time ever for them.

The Steel’s stayed with me and my family over the weekend, and Hollie did an amazing performance in Rochester on Saturday night, which lead to her having to sign autographs on stage for over an hour for her fans, even making the legendary “Drifters” have to wait to come on after her!! (Quick note for everybody…, believe me when i say this, never challenge Hollie to late night Guitar Hero!! This girl can play guitar!!! Butt was well and truly kicked) Tomorrow we will find out which Radio playlists have accepted the single, then we can follow up on the live booking enquiries and TV appearances we have lined up for the release.

Hollie confirmed in today’s chat session that her debut single, Where Are You Christmas, will be released on December 7th and available as a pre-order two weeks earlier (so from around November 23rd).

The single will be on sale exclusively from HMV, a UK online retailer with bricks and mortar shops aswell. At the moment the link on the site just links through to the HMV homepage. As soon as Hollie’s single is available, I will link through to the exact place on the site where you can find it.

HMV deliver worldwide, so you can all buy Hollie’s single. HMV deliver free to the UK, delivery to Europe costs £2.50 and delivery to the rest of the world is £4.50.

Nina said during the chat: “Everyone can order for delivery from HMV. We would be most grateful if you could ask all your friends and family to order – (the single) will make a wonderful gift. We have to get 6000 pre orders (in order for the CD to be sold in HMV branches on release)”.

Hollie’s CD will make a great Christmas present – and remember, she needs your help to get the CD into the shops.

The publicity for Hollie Steel has continued with an article in yesterday’s Blackburn Citizen. In the article, Nina talks about how excited Hollie is to be meeting Alexandra Burke next week at the switch on of the Manchester Christmas lights.

She said: “At her first audition, when Simon Cowell first asked her who was her idol, she said she wanted to be like Alexandra Burke.

“It’s hard to believe that within such a short space of time she is actually going to be sharing the same stage as her and singing just five minutes before Alexandra’s appearance.

“She likes Alexandra a lot and is really excited.

“The single she’s releasing is a beautiful song and we expect it to go high in the charts.

“It’s quite operatic and is very similar in style to Walking in the Air.

“It’s a really lovely melt-your heart Christmas song.

“It is a very exciting time for her and if everyone gets behind her, Lancashire could send her to number one.”

Meanwhile, the school choirs who performed  at 25th anniversary celebrations for East Lancashire Hospice on Wednesday night, where Hollie sang Nessun Dorma, have put together an anniversary CD to raise funds for the hospice.

Hollie says:

Hi everyone. Sorry it’s been a long time. It’s been very busy. Last night I did a concert for the hospice it was very good. I’m very excited cause the sun newpaper talked about my Christmas single. I hope it gets in the charts. I will go on the forum on Sunday night at 7 o’clock I have piano lesson tomorrow and a show in Kent on Saturday .Big hugs. Hollie xxx

The Sun newspaper have today published an article publicising Hollie Steel’s upcoming single release. This clearly marks the start of publicity for the release of Hollie’s Christmas single, Where are you Christmas?, in the media, so well done Nina, we knew you could do it!

However, the article in The Sun is factually incorrect, stating: “Hollie’s dream seemed over when she broke down during May’s BGT semi-finals. She begged Cowell for a second chance – but despite the music mogul, giving her another go she failed to make the final.”

Of course as we all know, Hollie did indeed make the final!

In the Sun article, Nina says of Hollie recording her single and album: “We’re doing this for her because it’s what she wants to do and she’s got all these songs she wants everybody to hear.

“It’s a really special experience for an 11-year-old to go into a recording studio but she just takes it in her stride and is still the same Hollie.”

Also, according to the article, the single will be available for download (so it will be undoubtedly available worldwide.) However, the article also states that Hollie now hopes to find a producer to get the album into shops, with Nina saying: “We’re hoping someone will come forward and sponsor her.”

You can read the complete report here.

Hollie Picture Card – signed

Postcard of Bournemouth – signed by Hollie on the front

… and signed by everyone else on the back

Hollie Steel Souvenirs of Bournemouth

Mick Uhl mentioned during yesterday’s chat that Haselmaus sent him a postcard with the autographs of many of the Hollie group at Bournemouth on it.
“The announcement brought immediate interest in seeing the card,” said Mick.  “Someone suggested sending scans to you so that you might show them on your fan site.

“I’ve included two Hollie autographs, one on the face of the postcard and the other on a picture card. Many people haven’t seen Hollie’s autograph and are curious about its appearance … it’s very cute where she dots the i with a heart.”

The reverse of the card has many signatures which Mick has documented for us (see below). Both Jason and Josh Steel signed the card – Josh’s signature is on the left and Jason’s signature is on the right.

Signatures on the back of the postcard

Left Side

Grandad John (Neil) (2 Grand)
Sallie Lax (2 Grand)

Georgi (Velev) (Bulgaria)
Andrew – RAF COSFORD
Helen – Henley-on-Thames

Dormouse Haselmaus Setty (Stelzer)

Right Side

Robert & Joe, London

To Mich from Wendy V
Scott (Boreham) Southampton, England
Sean (Nesbit) edinburgh
David N.(esbit)  ”
Joe C(ook)
Nevin (Thambinayagam)
J(osh) Steel   J(ason) Steel
Nina (Steel)

Vertically down the center of the card

Robert Owen from Blackburn   Best Wishes Robert Owen
Kevin B(ierwirth)

I’d like to say an absolutely HUGE THANK YOU to Mick for sharing these lovely momentoes with us all, and also say wasn’t Haselmaus lovely to send them to him. You Hollie Steel fans are all such nice people!

Just a quick round up of the latest Hollie news in case you’ve missed it:

• Hollie will be singing at 7.30pm on the 12th Nov at the switching on of the Manchester Christmas lights, just before Alexandra Burke. Get yourself there if you are in the area, or even if you’re not!
• Hollie’s MySpace page features two first mixes of Nessun Dorma and O Mio. Hollie’s voice sounds stunning on them, and they will no doubt whet your appetite even more for the release of Hollie’s single, Where are you Christmas, on December 7th.
• Hollie will also be appearing at the switching on of the Preston Christmas lights on November 21st, 2009 and she will be going to Hong Kong on November 18th, 2009.