''Classic Christmas'' is the third studio album and first Christmas album by the British singer

Joe McElderry Joseph McElderry (; born 16 June 1991) is an English singer and songwriter. He won the sixth series of the ITV show ''The X Factor'' in 2009. His first single " The Climb" reached number one on both the UK Singles Chart and the Irish Single ...

. It was released on 25 November 2011. It is his second album released under

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

Background

Before the album's official announcement, it was available to pre-order from

Play.com Rakuten.co.uk is a website owned by Rakuten, that operates as an online marketplace. The website does not sell any products directly, but instead allows third party sellers to sell their products. The website replaced Play.com, which was origin ...

Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

and

HMV.com Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

. On 6 October, McElderry announced that he was working on the album on Twitter and later on his official website. The album features a collaboration with one of his

Popstar to Operastar ''Popstar to Operastar'' is a British television programme in which pop stars were trained to sing opera. The show began airing on ITV on 15 January 2010 at 9pm. The show was repeated on TV3 Ireland on Saturday evening. The programme was produce ...

mentors,

Rolando Villazón Rolando Villazón Mauleón (born 22 February 1972) is a Mexican operatic tenor, stage director, author, radio and television personality and artistic director. He now lives in France, and in 2007 became a French citizen. Villazón has published ...

. A limited Christmas gift edition was announced, it includes the album along with his previous album, ''

Classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...

'', the set also includes a signed photograph, a keyring, and a tag from McElderry on the hand wrapped box.

Promotion

An advert was filmed, directed by Steve Lucker, it features McElderry outside in the snow, collecting logs and taking them to a large house preparing for a Christmas party, singing a selection of songs of the album. 2 short music videos were made from the footage that was filmed, "

Last Christmas "Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham!, originally released in December 1984 on CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side on Epic Records with "Everything She Wants" in the UK. Described as a "high watermark of mid-80s Br ...

" and "

O Come All Ye Faithful "O Come, All Ye Faithful" (originally written in Latin as "") is a Christmas carol that has been attributed to various authors, including John Francis Wade (1711–1786), John Reading (1645–1692), King John IV of Portugal (1604–1656), and a ...

". On 8 December, he performed at

Durham Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, commonly known as Durham Cathedral and home of the Shrine of St Cuthbert, is a cathedral in the city of Durham, County Durham, England. It is the seat of t ...

to an audience of 1,500, singing, "

In the Bleak Midwinter "In the Bleak Midwinter" is a poem by the English poet Christina Rossetti, commonly performed as a Christmas carol. The poem was published, under the title "A Christmas Carol", in the January 1872 issue of ''Scribner's Monthly,'' and was first c ...

" and

David Essex David Essex (born David Albert Cook; 23 July 1947) is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. Since the 1970s, he has attained 19 Top 40 singles in the UK (including two number ones) and 16 Top 40 albums. Internationally, Essex had the most ...

's "

A Winter's Tale ''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some criti ...

", with a new verse written by

Tim Rice Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ' ...

. He will introduce

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaiko ...

The O2 arena The O2 Arena, commonly known as the O2 (stylised as The O2 arena), is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of the O2 entertainment complex on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the s ...

from 27 December 2011 to 30 December 2011.

Reception

Prior the release of the album, ''Entertainment Focus'' praised the album, calling it "another winning release from Joe McElderry", giving the album 4/5 stars.

Track listing

Charts

During the album's first week of release in the United Kingdom, 34,043 copies of the album were sold at retail in the country, and the album debuted at number 15 on the UK Albums Chart. The album debuted at number 73 on the Irish Albums Chart.

Personnel

– Vocals *

City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (Czech: ''Filharmonici města Prahy'') is a classical orchestra, predominantly composed of Czech classical, jazz and guest musicians. The history of the orchestra goes back to the Film Symphony Orchestr ...

– Orchestra * Brighton Festival Chorus –

Choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

(1, 3, 5, 7, 8) * Brighton Festival Youth Choir –

(2, 5) *James Morgan – Conductor, producer, Orchestral arrangements and programming, Keyboards, Mixing, Editing (2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 12) *

Juliette Pochin Juliette Louise B. Pochin (born 1971) is a Welsh classically trained mezzo-soprano singer, composer/arranger, and record producer. She is known not only for her performances in operas and as a classical recitalist as well as for her recordings o ...

– Producer, Mixing, Editing, Orchestral arrangements and programming, Keyboards (2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 12) *Stephen Higgins – Conductor (1, 3, 5, 7, 8) * Steven Baker – Producer, Orchestral arrangements and programming (1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11) *

Kathryn Tickell Kathryn Tickell, OBE, DL (born 8 June 1967) is an English musician, noted for playing the Northumbrian smallpipes and fiddle. Music career Early life Kathryn Tickell was born in Walsall, then in Staffordshire, to parents who originated from N ...

– Northumbrian Bagpipes *Craig Hendry – Bass guitar *Per Lindvall – Drums *

Friðrik Karlsson Friðrik Karlsson is an Icelandic musician and songwriter. He studied classical and jazz/rock guitar and had success with the group Mezzoforte in 1983 with the U.K. top 20 hit, "Garden Party". He has contributed to the soundtracks of musical ...

– Guitar (1, 4) *Andy Greenwood – Trumpet (12) *Lucia Svehlova – Violin (9) *

– Vocals (5)

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2011 albums Joe McElderry albums 2011 Christmas albums Christmas albums by English artists Covers albums Classical Christmas albums