''A Legendary Christmas'' is the sixth studio album and first Christmas album by American singer

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Eve ...

, it was released on October 26, 2018. Featuring artists such as

Esperanza Spalding Esperanza Emily Spalding (born October 18, 1984) is an American bassist, singer, songwriter, and composer. Her accolades include five Grammy Awards, a Boston Music Award, and a Soul Train Music Award. A native of Portland, Oregon, Spalding be ...

and

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

, the album was promoted by a tour of the same name from November to December 2018. It received a nomination for

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album is an award presented to recording artists at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several categories are presented ...

at the 2020 Grammy Awards.

Background

The album is Legend's first holiday album, which he announced on October 1, 2018, via social media. His tweet wrote "This winter, get ready for A Legendary Christmas! I have a brand new Christmas album coming out accompanied by #ALegendaryChristmas Tour!". Prior to the album's announcement, Legend had just become the first African-American male to win an EGOT – an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. Legend has previously said of his intention to create a Christmas album, he said "I just made a new Christmas album. I've wanted to do this for a long time." On October 11, 2018, Legend premiered two lead singles from the album, "Bring Me Love" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" simultaneously on VEVO. The album was re-released on November 8, 2019 with four additional tracks.

Composition

Wonder features on the first song, "

What Christmas Means to Me "What Christmas Means to Me" is the name of several different Christmas music, Christmas songs. The most-covered version was written by Allen Story, Anna Gordy Gaye, and George Gordy. It has been recorded by many artists, including: * Stevie Wonde ...

", in which he plays the harmonica, while Spalding sings on "

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is a song written in 1943 by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane and introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical ''Meet Me in St. Louis''. Frank Sinatra later recorded a version with modified lyrics. I ...

". Featuring fourteen songs, the album is composed of eight that are "Christmas classics" and six that are original tracks by Legend. The album is executive-produced by neo-soul singer/producer

Raphael Saadiq Raphael Saadiq (; born Charles Ray Wiggins; May 14, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to fame as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! In addition to his solo and group ...

. All string arrangements by Matt Jones, including "

Happy Xmas (War Is Over) "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" is a Christmas song released in 1971 as a single by John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir. It was the seventh single release by John Lennon outside his work with the Beatles. The song reach ...

" on the Super Deluxe Edition which featured an improvised solo by violinist

Scott Tixier Scott Tixier (born February 26, 1986) is a French jazz violinist and professor of jazz violin at the University of North Texas. Life and career Tixier was born in Montreuil, France, and studied classical violin at the conservatory in Paris ...

Commercial performance

In John Legend's home country of the United States, ''A Legendary Christmas'' debuted at number 26 on the ''Billboard'' 200 with 20,000

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditi ...

s, which included 19,000 pure album sales. Eventually, the album rose to 22

Track listing

All tracks produced by

. Notes * "Baby, It's Cold Outside" contains additional writing by John Legend and

Natasha Rothwell Natasha Rothwell (born October 18, 1980) is an American writer, actress, teacher and comedian. Career Rothwell taught for KIPP NYC and went on to work at ''Saturday Night Live'' ''(SNL)''. She first garnered attention as a writer on ''SNL'' in ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Legendary Christmas, A 2018 Christmas albums John Legend albums Albums produced by John Legend Albums produced by Raphael Saadiq Christmas albums by American artists Columbia Records Christmas albums Contemporary R&B Christmas albums