HE’S the brains and voice behind one of the most famous Christmas songs ever.
And with four weeks to go until December 25, Wizzard rocker Roy Wood has given fans an early gift by revealing he’s working on his first new album in 14 years.
The 78-year-old, who founded legendary prog band Electric Light Orchestra, delved into his archives last week and discovered unreleased material he deems worthy of a new LP.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun on behalf of SPAR, Roy said: “I was going through some tracks and I managed to find at least eight tracks that are all unfinished and never been heard.
“And I’m going to get down and get them finished and get a new album. You know, I think it’s probably about time.
“It’s about time I wasn’t quite so lazy and did it.”
Roy’s last release was the 2011 record, Music Book, a double album put out on EMI.
It was an amalgamation of new versions of songs he’d recorded before and a couple of new tracks.
He continued: “I’ve sort of neglected the music a bit.
“I think it still sounds quite fresh, you know. It’s strange. I didn’t actually play it and think, well, I better re-record that, you know, it sounds all right.
“I’ll probably add a few more modern quirks to it but apart from that, it’s all right.
“I try not to be fashionable because I don’t know what fashionable is as far as songwriting is concerned. I just do whatever comes out of my head, whether it’s whether it’s in fashion or not.”
Roy is also in the process of putting together a new orchestra, the name of which is tightly under wraps until full funding has been secured.
If it comes to fruition next year, the secret project will coincidentally coincide with ELO’s farewell tour which includes a huge show at Hyde Park in July.
Roy recruited his the Move bandmate Jeff Lynne to ELO in 1970 as the idea for a more progressive group mixing classical and rock instruments took hold.
They released their self-titled debut in 1971 and scored their first top 10 hit with record opener 10538 Overture.
Partway through the writing process for album two, Roy departed along with keyboard player Bill Hunt and cello player Hugh McDowell, and went on to form Wizzard, who are best known for I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday.
While reports of a feud between Roy and Jeff circulated for years after the split, they remain good friends and stood shoulder to shoulder when ELO was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.
So will Roy, who quit touring himself after the coronavirus pandemic due to diabetes, rejoin the band for a final hurrah next year?
He said: “I mean, if they asked me, I would. Yeah. But I mean, I haven’t been approached yet.
“I mean, I wouldn’t blame them if they didn’t.
“When I left a lot of the press tried to make out that me and Jeff had a fallout and everything, but we didn’t. We never did. But I left through pressure from the management, really.
“That was the main reason I left. And I left while it was still all right to do so and before it all got dodgy or nasty. And so me and Jeff are still friends.
“But then when I left, Jeff picked up the ball and ran with it, you know, and did a great job.”
ELO has gone on to sell more than 50 million records and been sampled by countless acts including The Pussycat Dolls on their track Beep.
Though Roy is synonymous with Christmas, he wasn’t a particularly big fan of the festive season when he wrote his seasonal anthem.
He’s warmed to it in the 50 years since, however, and this year he’s backing SPAR’S SPARaoke campaign to give shoppers the chance to win their shopping and a full Christmas lunch for free.
All they have to do is belt out his hit in store for a chance to win.
The music star also visited one shop to rock out to the song with staff in a fun new video.
“The idea of people doing their shopping, then grabbing a mic to sing along with my song sort of appealed to me,” said Roy.
“It’s like proper festive, you know. It’s good.
“There’s people doing their shopping and singing along to the track. Then all of a sudden I appear around the back of the shelves and join in with them. So it sort of melds into me and the band singing it live, you know, on the stage. And it works really well.”
