A FATHER is pulling out all the stops to get his single to number one at Christmas after beating a drink and drug addiction.

James Davenport, known as Shinny, has become a local celebrity in his plight for the top spot.

The father-of-two, whose charity single ‘Christmas Number One’ will officially be released on Friday, but has been available for pre-order for a number of weeks, said his song will “knock everything off the shelves”.

The Walkden musician said: “I have come out of a really bad place.

“I have struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for more than 20 years but I have brought myself back up for my children.

“If I was still using there would be no Christmas Number One, my recovery saved my life.

“There is a massive story to my single and it is all about me getting back home to my family and my kids.”

Father to six-year-old Gracie Lee, from Bolton and 13-year-old son Donovan, Mr Davenport has been performing for more than 20 years as the lead singer and writer of the band Hanky Park and has already released three albums with iTunes.

The video for this festive track has already had more than 20,000 hits on Youtube and features a number of local celebrities including former Shameless stars Jody Latham and Tina Malone and Happy Mondays star Bez, along with former Coronation Street and Hollyoaks actress Saira Choudhry, former Waterloo Road actor Will Rush, model Maddie Morgan and Salford DJ Mike Sweeney.

There has also been an outpouring of support online with his fan page ‘Christmas Number One’ on Facebook amassing more than 100,000 members and messages of support from celebrities such as Will Mellor and Jeremy Kyle.

And the father thinks he can beat off tough competition to add a number one to his musical repertoire.He said: “It is a great song and will knock everything off the shelves. Fair play to The X Factor lad with the Ed Sheeran song but it has not got a scratch on my track. I have become a local celebrity. It is all about getting the message through that if you work hard dreams can come true.”

To download the track, click here 

A donation of 20p will go to Macmillan Cancer Support from every sale.