Christmas charity campaign Johnny Ruffo starred in before he died: Family gives permission for release

Johnny Ruffo’s partner and family have given permission for this Christmas music video, filmed shortly before his death for the Starlight Foundation, to be released. Watch it here.

Beloved entertainer Johnny Ruffo brought joy to others until the very end.

The former Home and Away and X Factor star — who passed away from terminal brain cancer on last month — stars in a heartwarming performance of a Christmas song for the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

Ruffo performs on a toy Xylophone in the video exclusively obtained by The Daily Telegraph, backing up ARIA award-winning artist Budjerah and seven Starlight children, in their rendition of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).

Singer Budjerah (centre), Johnny Ruffo (right), and seven children from the Starlight Foundation perform a Christmas carol. Photo: Supplied/Amazon.

Amazon Australia had asked Ruffo, in his capacity as their ambassador, to star in the Black Friday music video campaign to raise funds for the Starlight Foundation’s Playmakers. They pledged to donate $1 from every view of the video up to $100,000 to the charity for seriously ill children.

Ruffo has starred in the Amazon Playmakers campaign videos for years and this one was scheduled to be released on November 14th, just days after the actor passed away peacefully six years after his brain cancer diagnosis.

Ruffo’s family and partner Tahnee Sims gave their permission for the campaign to be released today.

Actor Johnny Ruffo and his partner Tahnee Sims. Photo: Instagram.

Johnny Ruffo starred on TV soap Home and Away after competing on X Factor. Pictured at Bronte Beach. Photo: The Daily Telegraph.

“Being part of this campaign for so many years, you would think I wouldn’t be surprised by what these kids can do but they continue to surprise me with their creativity,” the late Ruffo said.

“I was particularly excited to see the kids in action in the music video as being a singer myself, it was so incredible to see the joy it brought them.”

Charli Robinson and Johnny Ruffo in the Playmakers stop-motion film for 2022’s fundraising campaign. Picture: Supplied.

As part of the annual fundraising initiative, seven Starlight children were enlisted to review and test Amazon’s top 100 toys, and to star in the heartwarming video playing them as instruments.

Ruffo can be seen tipping his head back laughing and smiling as he plays the Xylophone, and Budjerah belts out the carol’s lyrics with the kids.

Australian singer Budjerah performed the Christmas carol alongside Ruffo. Picture: Sam Ruttyn/The Daily Telegraph.

Budjerah representing the Amazon Playmakers in a green T-shirt. Picture: Sam Ruttyn/The Daily Telegraph.

“I remember when they walked in, they were so happy and joyful and that made it,” Budjerah said. “It was so joyful working with the kids, they all had huge smiles on their faces. Everyone had fun. That’s what music is about.”

The Coodjinburra artist is “living [his] dreams”, travelling the world with his family and performing while he works on his debut album.

Ruffo burst onto the national showbiz scene in 2011 when he finished third on X Factor Australia as a fan favourite. He was known by many soap fans for his three years on Home and Away and for a stint on Dancing With the Stars.

Sims, who Ruffo referred to as his “guardian angel,” shared a video of some of the couple’s best moments last month, calling theirs a “forever love”.