Hollie Steel

Here is a message from Nina Steel, Hollie’s mum:

Dear Fans,

Hollie would like to ask you all a huge favour.  She needs 6,000 UK pre orders. I did a few calculations, if just 60 fans asked 100 of their friends or family to buy the single, then we’ve done it! If overseas fans ask UK friends or family to order for you, these figures will also be counted in the charts. The press have very high expectations of Hollie, expecting her to try for a Christmas Number One. The track certainly is good enough to achieve this, but we haven’t got thousands of pounds for promotion. We need all your help to make this happen.

Unfortunately, having a beautiful voice isn’t enough to get Hollie into the charts. We, Hollie’s family, are trying everything we can think of to ensure Hollie doesn’t feel she’s failed in this exciting venture. Thankyou for listening.

Nina x

Nina has asked me to help by uploading this promotional leaflet. We are asking you to help promote Hollie’s single by printing the leaflet out and giving copies of it to your friends and family.

You can also put it on noticeboards at work or at clubs you attend – you could even stick it in the back corner of your car window. Together, we can help Hollie to get the Christmas Number One!

Get the leaflet now – click here (it is in Microsoft Word format – if you can’t view it correctly, let me know and I will covert it to PDF for you.)

Thank you.

PS. Georgi has also suggested that all the fans who have their own YouTube videos of Hollie  put the pre-order link in the video description.

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.

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 Steel has just arrived back from Bali with her mum, Nina. Nina has been having a little look at the site and your comments, and has this to say about Hollie’s upcoming single:

Dear Friends

We are just back from Bali, we didnt realise the song name had been announced, I promise you, it won’t sound anything like Faith Hill. (Although I think Faith Hill’s version is lovely). Hollie sings the song in a completely different key (guess if its going to be higher or lower!).She sings the song more like a beautiful choir girl, perfect we feel for christmas. There won’t be any pop music heading your way from Hollie just yet.

Nina X

Manchester Evening News have posted a number of interviews on Youtube with Hollie Steel and her mum, Nina. They don’t contain any really recent news, but they are interesting to watch, especially if you have not seen them before.

Hollie Steel hopes to get her debut single released in time for Christmas, according to an article that appeared in today’s Burnley Express. According to the article, Hollie has her heart set on becoming “the next Charlotte Church”.

Hollie has so far recorded 10 tracks for her debut album, including classical songs.

Mum Nina told the Burnley Express that Hollie had been inspired to sing more classical pieces by  Charlotte Church, who became famous when at age 13 she released the album “Voice of an Angel”.

Nina told the Burnley Express: “Hollie has also recorded some classical songs for the album which people won’t really expect. She sings them really well, better than some of the musical theatre ones.

“She is an aspiring Charlotte Church and I’ll try my best to help her get there”

“Fans from Hong Kong, America and Germany have been asking when Hollie is going to release an album,” added Nina.

“I’ve been speaking to Hollie’s manager and we are going to try and get a single out for Christmas. We don’t really know about the album although it would be better if it was out for Christmas. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

I know most of you are already aware of the main details in this article as it is similar to the one that appeared in the Lancashire Telegraph, plus Nina keeps us informed on Facebook. Nevertheless, it is good to see  Hollie is taking up media space.

Thanks again to Léopold for being the quickest to alert me to this article. Does anyone have Hollie’s Granada TV interview?

Yesterday, my family and I went to visit Hollie, Josh, Nina and Jason Steel at their home. Jason and Nina had kindly invited us over to see them as a thank you for me setting up this Hollie Steel fan site, which is lovely of them. It is great to feel appreciated!

We arrived mid afternoon and enjoyed an endless supply of hospitality -  the day went by so fast.  Nina played me a version of Hollie singing Nessun Dorma that she is currently working on in a studio, and it was absolutely amazing. It would blow your socks off, I promise! If you were judging her as an adult singing it would sound amazing, but as an 11 year old girl – totally unbelievable.

We didn’t just talk about Hollie singing though – we had a normal, fun time. My children, Sam and Tomson, are each a year older than Josh and Hollie, and they all got on well together, playing on the trampoline, making noises with the amplifier and generally doing what children do – with a few exceptions. For example, whilst I was playing a Nightwish track for the Jason and Nina (I think Hollie would be great singing some of the Nightwish songs that  Tarja Turunen used to sing such as Ever Dream or Wishmaster), we could hear Josh playing the piano. Wow! Such an accomplished pianist, as is dad Jason. Josh will be entering Britain’s Got Talent next year, so let’s hope he gets through next time.

Meanwhile, my son Tomson is certainly looking forward to being asked what he did during the Summer holidays: “Oh, I met Hollie Steel!”

He was so looking forward to meeting Hollie and didn’t really believe it would actually happen until we arrived on her doorstep.

I took some photos whilst we were there, the best of which are contained in this article. Feel free to use them in your tribute videos to Hollie if you would like to

My children Tomson and Sam, with Josh and Hollie

Tomson and Hollie. Tomson, understandably, is looking very pleased.

Josh looking cool

Hollie treated us all to a live performance

Hollie trying on her school blazer in readiness for her return to school

This is me (Mandy) with Hollie

Me, my husband Andy, Nina and Jason

Here is a video of Hollie Steel and Nina being interviewed by Stephen Mulhern after her amazing come back in the semi finals of Britain’s Got Talent. Nevin has very kindly uploaded this video onto YouTube so that we can all watch it. Thanks Nevin x

Update: Nevin has uploaded the complete interview to YouTube, which includes interviews with Hollie’s dad Jason and Hollie’s Grandma. You can view it here:

May 22nd, 2009

Hollie Steel’s mum is urging the people who live in East Lancashire  to support her daughter in the Britain’s Got Talent competition. This Saturday (22nd May), Hollie we will find out whether Hollie is through to the semi-finals of the competition.

Of course she is – a dead cert in my view.

Hollie has appeared on TV in the US and appeared in newspapers, and of course, this fan site.

In an interview with the Lancashire Telegraph,  mum Nina explained: “If she does get through, I want the whole of East Lancashire to get behind Hollie.

“She’s having a great time and everyone has seen how talented she is. I’m so proud if her.

“But even if she doesn’t make it into the semi-finals, it has been a fantastic experience, particularly meeting Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan.”