They’ve had five Christmas number ones and boast over 13 million followers on social media. They’ve written eight children’s books and raised an incredible £1.3 million for charity. But viral sensations, LadBaby’s Rox and Mark Hoyle, content creators who live in Nottingham, come from humble beginnings.
“At one point when our first baby was born we had just £20 to our name,” says Mark, 38. He and Rox – the Hoyles – previously worked in advertising. The couple have two children, Phoenix, nine, and Kobe, seven. “We’ll never forget that feeling – what it’s like to have absolutely nothing. Rox was the breadwinner and she gave up her job when Phoenix was born. That put us under financial strain. We struggled to pay the bills. We had next to nothing when everything came out at the end of the month.”
Mark launched LadBaby, making funny videos in 2016. The platform’s popularity has grown stratospherically. “I was already winding Rox up, now I just do it on camera,” he says.
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Indeed, two years later in 2018, supported by legions of fans, the couple recorded and released We Built This City, a charity parody of Starship’s song, with lyrics changed to “we built this city on sausage rolls”. It was the first of five consecutive Christmas number ones for them, all of which donated proceeds to The Trussell Trust food banks.
In 2021 came a charity collaboration with Elton John and Ed Sheeran: Sausage Rolls For Everyone. “Elton and Ed were amazing. They totally understood what we were doing, they understood the importance of the charity. They came along and were willing to sing silly lyrics that we’d written about sausage rolls. And you know, it’s quite a moment. It’s something you never forget. I watched The Lion King all the time growing up, and here I was singing with the man who did all those songs I loved as a child.”
They’re still pals with Ed. “He’s invited us to a couple of football games with him the last couple of years to watch his team versus my team,” says Mark.
Will there be more number ones? “Never say never,” says Rox, 41. “We’re only a couple of years away from our 10 year anniversary. I’m trying to get hold of Mariah Carey. She’s never had a Christmas number one. I think this is the collab that the world needs. All I Want For Christmas is Sausage Rolls.” Mark adds: “I’d love to see Mariah look at a sausage roll and wonder what the hell it is. They don’t have ’em in America.”
But forget Mariah, you better believe the family will be playing their own tunes on Christmas Day. “Why not, hey? It’s cringe, isn’t it, watching yourself. Especially because I can’t sing. But the kids love watching the videos. We put them on the telly in the room and they sing and dance along,” says Mark.
“It’s a really cool thing to have as a family – your own music video, or five.” And Rox says: “We never expected them to do what they did. I have a soft spot for the first one, because it was a song that never got to number one originally. We helped the original writers of that song have a number one.”
But this year, LadBaby’s attention is away from the studio… and in the kitchen, as Mark and Rox have just launched a new range of sauces, Dinner’s Ready, with flavours inspired by some of Britain’s favourite meals. Yes there’s a sausage roll sauce. 10p per sale will be donated to The Trussell Trust. “Yes we’ve raised a lot of money up to this point. But it feels sad that the situation in the UK is still the same. And that’s the heartbreaking bit. Food banks are the busiest they’ve ever been,” says Rox.
“There’s a stereotype of the people that go to food banks. But it’s not just homeless people. It’s normal people who can’t afford their bills. And it’s not their fault – everything has risen and taxes have gone up.” Mark adds: “There’s evidence that many food banks have had to change their opening hours so they’re open before nine and after five so that people can go to one around work – that’s frightening.”
Rox and Mark, long-time supporters of the Mirror’s Pride of Britain, are future-proofing for the children too. “It’s a family business that hopefully one day we can hand down to our kids to give them a helping hand,” says Mark.
The couple are looking forward to Christmas. “I love cooking, but I’m rubbish. It’s taken me 10 years, but now I don’t dry out the turkey,” says Rox. Mark adds: “I make sausage rolls too, you’ll be surprised. I used to do it with my mum and dad on Christmas Day, so it’s a little tradition. It seems sausage rolls are the theme of my life!”
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