After songwriter Gordon Lorenz had the 1980 Christmas number one with the St Winifred's School Choir recording of his song "There's No One Quite Like Grandma", he wrote a follow-up single - "My Mum Is One In A Million" - to be released to commemorate Mothering Sunday on 29 March in 1981.[1] However, as the teachers at St Winifred's School thought it too cynical even for them, Lorenz, who was living in Dethick at the time, handed it over to a nearby primary school,[2] and EMI agreed to release the recording.
The single came out in February 1981, in a cheap paper bag sleeve,[3] and in its second week on the UK singles charts rose from number 75 to number 27, for the week ending 4 April 1981.[4] The single was helped in part by a competition in the Sunday Mirror, for which one of the prizes was a platinum disc of the single.[5]
The chart performance earned the children a spot on Top of the Pops on 2 April 1981,[6] but, with Mothering Sunday now past, the song plummeted the following week out of the top 40, never to return.
A follow-up single and album, "Our Family" and Our Family Album,[7] both were unsuccessful, ending the choir's recording career.[8]