Hemel Hempstead father and daughter release Christmas single to spread festive cheer

A father and daughter from Hemel Hempstead have written and recorded a Christmas single to raise money for charity.

Phil Goodman, 55, and his 14-year-old daughter Evie wanted to create a Christmas song that was about enjoying spending time with friends and family rather than spending excessive amounts on food and gifts.

Phil's wife Serena hopes their song, 'Christmas Crackers' will go viral and raise money for charity.

She said: "It is their first song together. Phil has dabbled with writing songs over the last few months but not put much out there.

"Evie has written and performed some songs on YouTube, but this is their first together, and they really want to promote it and raise awareness.

"If it goes viral, it will earn some money which they want to donate to charity.

"The song is about how nobody should be alone at Christmas, and how Christmas should be spent with family and friends.

"They want to donate the money to Age UK, DENS and possibly Crisis as well.

"Hopefully the song will go viral and money will be raised through the amount of times it is played."

Phil, who runs a computer services company in Leverstock Green, said: “I wanted to write a catchy, festive song with a message. Christmas has become too commercialised and is all about gift giving, and should be more about spending time with family, friends, and people who would otherwise be alone on Christmas Day.

"My feelings are reflected in the lyrics, 'I'm an old cynic but a great idea just popped into my head, let's skip a few gifts and invite more people to Christmas lunch instead, those old or lonely people could be you or me one day, and nobody should have to be alone on Christmas Day'.

"If our song raises a few quid for charity through streaming and iTunes sales then great, but I’d be just as happy if it inspired others to invite old or lonely people to join them for Christmas.

"That really would fill me up with festive cheer!”

Evie attends Longdean School and is studying for a GCSE in music, she said: “I wanted to raise some much needed smiles after a horrid two years.”

"They wanted to do a Christmas song, but with that message behind it."

The single is free to download on YouTube, SoundCloud, Spotify and Apple music, for more details visit: www.feelgoodman.co.uk.