Bassist on one of UK's most popular Xmas songs explains why there's no new hits

Fifty years since it became 1974’s Yuletide number one, the Mud hit Lonely This Christmas is as much part of Britain’s festive repertoire as Jingle Bells.

Sadly, two of the four original Mud line-up from the Seventies have passed on - Les Gray, who had throat cancer, died in 2004, aged 57, after a heart attack and drummer Dave Mount took his own life in 2006, aged 59.

But bassist Ray Stiles, now 78, and lead guitarist Rob Davis, 77, are still performing together as Mud and the original glam rockers have even inspired a tribute band, Mud 2.

Hearing Lonely This Christmas is always bittersweet for Rob, who remains deeply proud of holding the top spot for four weeks with the hit, but is simultaneously reminded of the band mates he lost.

He tells The Mirror: “It definitely used to be a big deal to have the Christmas No.1. Lonely This Christmas was No.1 all over Europe too.

“A lot of people who’ve lost loved ones still talk about the sentiment of it.

“You hear it every year along with other old Christmas records.

“ You don’t hear any new ones anymore. I think the last great one was Mariah Carey’s and that was 30 years ago now.

“The newer ones don’t have the quaintness of the old ones, even though they’re probably technically better. And no-one buys many records anymore - they get them free on Spotify.”

On hearing Lonely This Christmas, he adds: “I do get emotional, especially thinking about Dave as we knew each other as kids. When I return to Epsom to see my sister and friends I pass Dave’s house and Christ I miss him. And Les of course.”

Rob, the winner of three Ivor Novelli awards and a Grammy, has gone on to even greater success since Mud, whose other huge number one hits included Tiger Feet, which sold over 700,000 copies in the UK and more than a million globally, and Oh Boy.

As a producer and songwriter, he has had global hits - co-writing Kylie’s Can’t Get You Out Of My Head with Cathy Dennis, a number one hit in 40 countries, as well as writing Groovejet, a hit for Spiller (featuring Sophie Ellis-Bextor) and Fragma’s hit Toca’s Miracle.

Rob is also in good shape - which he attributes to his love of yoga, which he started practicing in the 1970s and he feels protected him from the rock n roll excesses which tripped up his late bandmates.

“Les especially, greatly,” he says. “He was a good frontman and very sociable.

“He would call his local pub his ‘office’ and anybody who wanted to meet him had to go to the pub! The booze definitely killed him.

“Dave…he was bright and hilarious. But one minute he was like Eric Morecambe, the next he was on a downer. Like a lot of comedians he had a downside.

“He was also very sociable and had a lot of friends in the industry at the time. He went on a massive drinking day and night…I couldn’t believe what happened.

“I think it’s terrible what alcohol does to people - makes you depressed.

“I’ve been into yoga since the early 70s and that has guided my life in one way.

“I’ve never smoked. I’ve drunk a bit and still do, but not to the extent of it killing me. I think being clean-living and loving the production and writing side… Where they’d be out getting boozed, I’d be at home writing or in the studio. I even adopted the lotus position on Top Of The Pops once!”

Rob misses the excitement and kudos of topping the charts and says these days “zillions less” sales are needed to get to number one.

“It’s a bit of a nightmare,” he says. “When you think those old records sold 100,000 to make No.1. I think you can make it with just a few thousand nowadays. It’s a terrible industry in that respect. I don’t think new acts make any money at all. Live gigs are better for new acts.”

Born Robert Berkeley Davis in Surrey in 1947, Rob got his first guitar at 11, writing his first song and formed his first band (The Apaches, with Dave Mount) at 15.

“The thought of us getting screaming girl fans was appealing, but starting out I didn’t think we were going to be rich and famous,” he says. “I just loved being in a band and playing the music. But I had an aunt who said that when I was born she saw a shooting star.”

Hilariously, Rob and Les came up with the name Mud after their van got stuck in mud en route to a gig and says it got them noticed on posters.

And while the other three often dressed as old style rockers, Rob wore feminine outfits and clip-on earrings, an image suggested to him by a trendy gay Carnaby Street outfitter called Colin Wild.

But it didn’t put female fans off.

“It made them more interested!“ chuckles Rob, who is married to yoga teacher Deena and has a 33-year old son Gregory, an estate agent who also has a sex toy company, with his first wife, Chris.

Most of Mud’s hits were written by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn, the partnership behind the sounds of Suzi Quatro and Sweet among others.

Rob wrote or co-wrote 45 Mud tracks, though, the biggest being L’L’Lucy which was a UK No.10 and topped charts in The Netherlands and Belgium.

Some of his collaborations were also with Ray and Dave, but Rob says: “Les wasn’t into writing - he was too busy going down the pub!”

For a few years, Rob joined Darts, touring America and Ireland with them.

But he’s happy to be rocking and rolling as Mud again, as he approaches 80.

“Ray and I have been doing it on and off for 10 years just to earn some extra money,” he says.

Meanwhile, his ongoing songwriting success - which has included a No 8 hit for Kylie in 2002 with Come Into My World, co-written again with 90s popstar Cathy Dennis - has financed the purchase of swanky properties in Bromley and Ibiza.

“Can’t Get You Out Of My Head was done and demo’d in seven hours in my studio in Epsom,” says Rob, who has now given that house to his son. “That’s pretty quick. I think we wrote another song that same day too.”

Other stars who’ve recorded Rob’s songs include Dannii Minogue, Enrique Iglesias, Rachel Stevens, Mika, Charlotte Church, and Blue. He penned Down Boy, a No.2 in 2002 for Holly Valance, who like Kylie had become a star on the Australian soap opera Neighbours - which Rob has never watched.

“That was quite an iconic period for me. Everybody wanted to write something like Can’t Get You Out Of My Head 2 with me, but it never works that way,” says Rob, whose has one unfulfilled ambition - to write with Michael Mc Donald, who had hits with The Doobie Brothers, including What A Fool Believes.

Despite being in the business since the early 1960s, Rob still gets a thrill from hearing records he’s been involved in getting played.

“It’s always exciting when I hear the likes of Can’t Get You Out Of My Head or Toca’s Miracle played on Radio 1 or YouTube or in a movie,” he says. “I hear Groovejet a lot in Ibiza. A hilarious mate I used to go out for a drink with would point me out to the barmaid and say ‘He wrote La La La, you know!’”

And he still has his finger on the pulse, despite his advanced years, adding: “I listen to Radio 1 dance shows, and go to all Paul Oakenfold’s gigs in Ibiza. So I do keep up. I still love old bands like Steely Dan and The Eagles. But I’m not into Queen or ABBA - I’ve played and heard their songs so much over the years that I’m sick of them!”

Speaking from his home in Bromley, where he has a recording studio and a Yoga studio, Rob doubts he will ever retire, adding: “It’s harder and harder to get hits now, but I’m always looking for the next incredible song.”