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Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits
''Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits'' is a set of two Christmas-themed compilation albums released by Rhino Records in 1989, each featuring ten popular Christmas recordings from 1935 to 1983, many of which charted on the ''Billboard'' record charts. Both volumes were certified Gold by the RIAA in the U.S., with the second volume being certified Platinum. ''1935–1954'' #" White Christmas" — Bing Crosby #"Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" — Vaughn Monroe #" Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" — Gene Autry #"The Christmas Song" — Nat "King" Cole #" All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)" — Spike Jones & His City Slickers #"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" — Jimmy Boyd #"Christmas Island" — Andrews Sisters & Guy Lombardo #"Silent Night" — Bing Crosby #"Here Comes Santa Claus (Down Santa Claus Lane)" — Gene Autry #"Santa Baby" — Eartha Kitt Reception Shawn Haney of Allmusic says the album is a "charming collection of golden classic Christmas favori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compilation Album
A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for release together as a single work, but may be collected together as a greatest hits album or box set. If from several performers, there may be a theme, topic, time period, or genre which links the tracks, or they may have been intended for release as a single work—such as a tribute album. When the tracks are by the same recording artist, the album may be referred to as a retrospective album or an anthology. Content and scope Songs included on a compilation album may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for release together as a single work, but may ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Boyd
Jimmy Devon Boyd (January 9, 1939 – March 7, 2009) was an American singer, musician, and actor known for his 1952 recording of the song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". Early years Jimmy Boyd was born in 1939 Mississippi into a musical family, father Leslie Boyd and mother Winnie Boyd. His father, in turn, was from a family of 21 children of musician Bill Boyd. The family relocated to the San Fernando Valley of Southern California when Jimmy was a pre-schooler. Jimmy briefly sang with "Texas Jim Lewis and his Lonestar Cowboys". At an early age, he won a local talent show that led to television appearances, including ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', as well as '' The Frank Sinatra Show'' on CBS-TV. "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" Boyd recorded the song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" for Columbia Records in 1952, when he was 13 years old. It became a hit, selling over two and a half million records in its first week's release and Boyd's name became known internationally. Boyd w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Seville
David "Dave" Seville is a fictional character, the producer and manager of the fictional singing group '' Alvin and the Chipmunks''. The character was created by Ross Bagdasarian Sr., who had used the name "David Seville" as his stage name prior to the creation of the Chipmunks, while writing and recording novelty records in the 1950s. One of the records, recorded in 1958 under the David Seville stage name, was "Witch Doctor", featuring a sped-up high-pitched vocal technique. Bagdasarian would later use that technique in "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)", which would introduce both Alvin and the Chipmunks as a singing group and Bagdasarian's music producer "Dave". Bagdasarian would go on to create ''The Alvin Show'', based on the Alvin and the Chipmunks group, where he voiced the semi-fictional character David Seville, based largely on himself, with Alvin based on Ross's sometimes rebellious son Adam. Bagdasarian Sr. died in 1972, and his son (Adam's brother) Ross ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks or simply The Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks named Alvin, Simon, and Theodore who are originally managed by their human adoptive father, David "Dave" Seville. Bagdasarian provided the group's voices by producing sped-up recordings of his own, a technique pioneered on the successful "Witch Doctor". Later in 1958 Bagdasarian released the similarly-engineered "The Chipmunk Song" for which he came up with the chipmunk characters and their human father, attributing the track to them. ''David Seville and the Chipmunks'' released several more records over the following decade until Bagdasarian's death in 1972. The franchise was revived in 1979 with the characters' voices provided by his son Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and the latter's wife Janice Karman. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Chipmunk Song
"The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" is a novelty song, novelty Christmas song written by Ross Bagdasarian (under the stage name of David Seville) in 1958. Bagdasarian sang and recorded the song, varying the tape speeds to produce Pitch (music), high-pitched "chipmunk" voices, with the vocals credited to Alvin and the Chipmunks, Seville's cartoon virtual band. The song won three 1st Annual Grammy Awards, Grammy Awards in 1958, for Best Comedy Performance, Best Children's Recording, and Best Engineered Record (non-classical). Commercial performance The song was very successful, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, becoming The Chipmunks' first (and only), as well as David Seville's second and final, No. 1 single. It had the distinction of being the only Christmas record to reach No. 1 on the same chart until Mariah Carey’s "All I Want for Christmas Is You" did so 61 years later in 2019. The single sold 4.5 million copies in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brenda Lee
Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Performing rockabilly, pop and country music, she had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s and is ranked fourth in that decade, surpassed only by Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Ray Charles. She is known for her 1960 hit " I'm Sorry" and 1958's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", which has become a Christmas standard. At 4 ft 9 inches tall (approximately 145 cm), she received the nickname "Little Miss Dynamite" in 1957, after recording the song "Dynamite" when she was 12, and was one of the earliest pop stars to have a major contemporary international following. In 1969, Lee returned to the charts with her recording "Johnny One Time" penned by A. L. "Doodle" Owens and Dallas Frazier. The song reached #3 on ''Billboard''s Adult Contemporary Chart and #41 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song also earned Lee her second Grammy nomination for Best Pop Female Vocal. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" is a Christmas song written by Johnny Marks and recorded by Brenda Lee in 1958; it has since been recorded by numerous other music artists. By the song's 50th anniversary in 2008, Lee's original version had sold over 25 million copies around the world with the 4th most digital downloads sold of any Christmas single. Original recording by Brenda Lee "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" was written by Johnny Marks, who had previously penned "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "A Holly Jolly Christmas". In spite of her adult voice, Lee recorded the song when she was only 13 years old. In a 2019 interview with ''The Tennessean'', Lee recalled that she had no knowledge as to why Marks wanted her specifically to sing it: "I was only 12 ic and I had not had a lot of success in records, but for some reason he heard me and wanted me to do it. And I did." "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" is a rockabilly song. The recording features Hank Garland a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bobby Helms
Robert Lee Helms (August 15, 1933 – June 19, 1997) was an American country singer, who is best remembered for his 1957 Christmas hit "Jingle Bell Rock". Additionally, he had two other hit records from that year: " Fraulein" and "My Special Angel". Life and career Robert Lee Helms was born in 1933 in Bloomington, Indiana (some sources say nearby Helmsburg), the son of Hildreth Esther (née Abram) and Fred Robert Helms. His family was musical. Helms began performing as a duo with his brother, Freddie, before going on to a successful solo career in country music. In 1956, Helms made his way to Nashville, Tennessee, where he signed a recording contract with Decca Records, and achieved multiple successes the following year. His first single in 1957, titled " Fraulein", went to No. 1 on the country music chart and made it into the Top 40 on the ''Billboard'' Best Sellers in Stores chart. Later that same year, he released "My Special Angel", which also hit No. 1 on the country ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jingle Bell Rock
"Jingle Bell Rock" is an American Christmas song first released by Bobby Helms in 1957. Since its release, it has received frequent airplay in the United States during every Christmas season since then. "Jingle Bell Rock" was composed by Joseph Carleton Beal (1900–1967) and James Ross Boothe (1917–1976), although both Helms and session guitarist on the song Hank Garland disputed this (see Authorship controversy section below). Beal was a Massachusetts-born public relations professional and longtime resident of South Ocean Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Boothe was an American writer in the advertising business. Helms recordings "Jingle Bell Rock" has been performed by many, but Helms' first version from 1957 produced by Paul Cohen is the best known. The song's title and some of its lyrics are an extension of the old Christmas standard, "Jingle Bells". It makes brief references to other popular songs of the 1950s, such as " Rock Around the Clock", and mentions going to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eartha Kitt
Eartha Kitt (born Eartha Mae Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer and actress known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song "Santa Baby". Kitt began her career in 1942 and appeared in the 1945 original Broadway theatre production of the musical ''Carib Song''. In the early 1950s, she had six US Top 30 entries, including "Uska Dara" and "I Want to Be Evil". Her other recordings include the UK Top 10 song "Under the Bridges of Paris" (1954), "Just an Old Fashioned Girl" (1956) and "Where Is My Man" (1983). Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the world". She starred as Catwoman in the third and final season of the television series ''Batman'' in 1967. In 1968, her career in the U.S. deteriorated after she made anti-Vietnam War statements at a White House luncheon. Ten years later, Kitt made a successful return to Broadway in the 1978 original product ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santa Baby
"Santa Baby" is a song performed by American singer Eartha Kitt with Henri René, Henri René and His Orchestra and originally released in 1953. The song was written by Joan Javits and Philip Springer, who also used the pseudonym Tony Springer in an attempt to speed up the song's publishing process. Lyrically, the song is a tongue-in-cheek look at a Christmas list addressed to Santa Claus by a woman who wants extravagant gifts such as Sable#History of fur use and status, sables, yachts, and decorations from Tiffany & Co., Tiffany's. Music critics gave mixed reviews to the single, with some calling it too suggestive for a holiday-themed song. Springer was initially dissatisfied with "Santa Baby" and called it one of his weakest works. It has since been included on lists of both the best and worst Christmas songs ever written. In the United States, "Santa Baby" became the best-selling Christmas song of 1953 and found more success, retrospectively, when it entered various component ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Here Comes Santa Claus
"Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)" is a popular Christmas song written and originally performed by Gene Autry, with music composed by Oakley Haldeman. Autry's original recording (in which he pronounces Santa Claus as "Santy Claus") was a top-10 hit on the pop and country charts; the song would go on to be covered many times in the subsequent decades. History Autry got the idea for the song after riding his horse in the 1946 Santa Claus Lane Parade (now the Hollywood Christmas Parade) in Los Angeles, during which crowds of spectators chanted, ''"Here comes Santa Claus"''. This inspired him to write a song that Haldeman set to music. Autry's lyrics combined two veins of the Christmas tradition, the mythology of Santa Claus and the Christian origin of the holiday (most explicitly in its mention of the nativity promise of "peace on Earth" to those who "follow the light"). A demo recording was made by singer/guitarist Johnny Bond, whose recording made use of ic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
