How it all began
Silver Balloon is a family business established in the UK in 2003, from Aldbury, a little village in Hertfordshire - before downloads, social media or smartphones. Our ambition was to make great music for babies and pre-schoolers that mum, dad, nan and pop wouldn't find too annoying.
Within 18 months we were selling in stores across the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore and had become the top-selling personalised gift with more than a million sales worldwide.
21 years on...
Awards followed as did the media coverage. And a classic was born. Now in 2024, with studios in London and Melbourne, Silver Balloon is still bringing bright smiles to the little people in our lives.
Jon Snow
Narrator of the Silver Balloon bedtime story tracks
Jon retired in 2021 after 32 years as one of Britain’s most well known and respected broadcasters. As the Channel Four News anchorman he was known for his taste in flamboyant neckties - and for an illustrious career interviewing many of the world’s top statesmen, politicians and celebrities.
Nepo-narrator
And it was in the Channel Four News studio back in 2003 that Jon recorded the album's bedtime story tracks, as a favour to one of his editors, Kerry Blackburn, co-creator of Silver Balloon.
When asked to comment on his new role as narrator of fairy stories, Jon said, "When my children were young they were always curious about where balloons they released ended up. If you can stand listening to the old bloke narrating the story, it’s a pretty good tale.”
Jon donated his fee to the New Horizons charity for homeless teenagers, of which he is patron.
The Silver Balloon Team
Kerry Blackburn
Author of the bedtime stories and co-creator of 'My Silver Balloon'
Kerry is a BAFTA award-winning journalist with more than 25 years working in the industry as a reporter, producer and editor at the BBC, Channel Four and Channel Five.
Nowadays she lives in Australia with her dog Finn and a few other important people in her life, including her now 22 year old son Ethan - the inspiration for Silver Balloon.
Patrick Byrne
Songwriter, Producer, Performer
Patrick Byrne is a legendary producer receiving rave reviews from the music world, with the NME magazine giving him a rare 8/10 for his “happy/sad psychedelic-pop”.
Patrick’s collaboration with Mathew on the Silver Balloon CD has produced some fantastically unique, and entertaining songs
Mathew Priest
Songwriter, Producer, Performer
Mathew is the founding member of chart-topping band Dodgy. finding chart success many times with hits such as 'Good Enough', 'Staying Out For the Summer', and 'In A Room', selling over 2 million records worldwide. 'Good Enough' was the most widely played song on British radio in 1996. Nowadays Mathew combines his own musical career with managing and producing artists.
Beccy Byrne
Vocalist
Beccy toured extensively as the keyboard player for the band Catatonia.
Her career has seen her in the studio and on stage with artists such as Robbie Williams, Pulp, and Paul Heaton of ‘The Beautiful South’.
Beccy studied at Newcastle College of Music specializing in Jazz and Popular Music. She has also worked as a piano and singing teacher
21 years in a few paragraphs...
Sung by real musicians in real studios with real instruments - and with all the names sung in real time so they slot in nicely to the rhythm of the music.
The albums quickly became the must have newborn, Christmas and birthday gift. The Beckhams had them, so did the Blairs... They made their way to the White House and Buckingham Palace. Silver Balloon got the top ratings on the parenting mags and in the UK press.
In 2007, the Blackburn family moved to Australia and continued to grow the catalogue and fanbase.
Then streaming killed CDs. But Gen Z has given way to Gen Alpha - and those toddlers who grew up with our music are now all grown up themselves and having families of their own. They know it's not a gimmick, that the music is really good and they can't wait to play it to their bubs.
So on the week we turned 21, in October 2024, we launched this new website - uploading the entire catalogue of more than 1000 names - literally thousands of tracks - so that you can get the music downloaded instantly.
We are still selling lots of CDs (amazingly!). There are some nice little CD players coming back and even some in-car CD players. CDs are also lovely if you just want something nostalgic for the memory box.
We're using exactly the same (now retro) packaging as when we launched. And the music is still just as lovely.
Thanks for reading and we hope you have enjoyed our story and our music - and remember to dance like no-one's watching.