Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols, may employ lyrics about the nativity of Jesus Christ, traditions such as gift-giving and merrymaking, cultural figures such as Santa Claus, or other topics. Many songs simply have a winter or seasonal theme, or have been adopted into the canon for other reasons.
MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the 1970s. The company also released soundtrack albums of the music for some of their non-musical films as well, and on rare occasions, cast albums of off-Broadway musicals such as The Fantasticks and the 1954 revival of The Threepenny Opera. In one instance, MGM Records released the highly successful soundtrack album of a film made by another studio, Columbia Pictures's Born Free (1966).
Donald Clark Osmond is an American singer, dancer, actor, television host and former teen idol. He first gained fame performing with four of his elder brothers as the Osmonds, earning several top ten hits and gold albums. Then, in the early 1970s, Osmond began a solo career, earning several additional top ten songs.
Olive Marie Osmond is an American singer, actress, television host and a member of the show business family the Osmonds. Although she was never an official member of her family's singing group, she gained success as a country and pop music artist and television variety show cohost in the 1970s and 1980s. Her best-known song is a remake of the country pop ballad "Paper Roses". From 1976 to 1979, she and her singer brother Donny Osmond hosted the television variety show Donny & Marie.
The Osmonds were an American family music group who reached the height of their fame in the early to mid-1970s. The group had its best-known configurations as a quartet and a quintet. The group has consisted of siblings who are all members of a family of musicians from Ogden, Utah, and have been in the public eye since the 1960s.
"Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" is a 1968 single released by American R&B/soul duo Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, on the Tamla label in 1968. The B-side of the single is "Little Ole Boy, Little Ole Girl" from the duo's United LP. The first release off the duo's second album: You're All I Need, the song—written and produced by regular Gaye/Terrell collaborators Ashford & Simpson—became a hit within weeks of release eventually peaking at number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot Soul Singles chart, the first of the duo's two number-one R&B hits. In the UK "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" reached number 34.
James Arthur Osmond is an American singer and businessman. He is the youngest member of the sibling musical group the Osmonds. As a solo artist, Osmond has accumulated six gold records, one platinum record, and two gold albums.
"Deep Purple" is a song and the biggest hit written by pianist Peter DeRose, who broadcast between 1923 and 1939 with May Singhi as "The Sweethearts of the Air" on the NBC radio network. The British rock band Deep Purple named themselves after the song.
8 Days of Christmas is the fourth and penultimate studio album and the first and only Christmas album by American R&B girl group Destiny's Child, released on October 30, 2001 by Columbia Records.
"Paper Roses" is a popular song written and composed by Fred Spielman and Janice Torre. It first was a top five hit in 1960 for Anita Bryant. Marie Osmond recorded it in 1973 and took her version to number one on the US country chart.
Thomas Rulon Osmond is a member of the Osmond family, though he rarely performs with his musical family.
The discography of American pop singer Donny Osmond contains 18 studio albums, nine compilation albums, one live album, four video albums, three extended plays, four music videos, 25 singles and eight additional appearances. After several years collaborating with his siblings' band, The Osmonds, he embarked on a solo career in 1971. His debut single, "Sweet and Innocent," reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and made him a teen pop star. Its follow-up entitled "Go Away Little Girl" topped the same chart in 1971. Also in 1971 his debut studio album was released called The Donny Osmond Album. It peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200 all-genre chart. His third studio release, Portrait of Donny, reached number six on the Billboard 200 and is his highest-charting album to date. Its two singles became top ten hits on the pop chart: "Hey Girl" and "Puppy Love." He released his fourth studio effort in 1972, Too Young. The record peaked at number 11 on the Billboard 200. It spawned the top 20 pop hits: the title track and "Why." In 1973, Alone Together marked his fifth studio album release and peaked at number 26 in the United States. It spawned his cover of "The Twelfth of Never," which reached number eight on the Hot 100. By the mid-1970s, Osmond reached adulthood and his career began to decline despite collaborations with his sister, Marie Osmond. In 1976, he recorded an album of disco, which only reached number 145 on the Billboard 200.
Magic of Christmas is a holiday album released in 2007 by American country music singer, Marie Osmond. It was Osmond's first studio album since 1989's Steppin' Stone, as well as her first Christmas album.
Donny & Marie is an American variety show that aired on ABC from January 1976 to May 1979. The show starred brother-and-sister pop duo Donny and Marie Osmond. Donny had first become popular singing in a music group with his brothers, The Osmonds, and Marie was one of the youngest singers to reach No. 1 on the Billboard country music charts.
The Osmonds is a 1972 ABC-TV Saturday morning cartoon series produced by Rankin/Bass Productions starring the Osmond Brothers. Each episode features the family in a different location around the world, with young Jimmy's antics usually driving the plot of the episode. As with most television series oriented around bands, the Osmonds' songs were featured prominently in the series. The series also featured their talking pet dog, Fuji. Marie Osmond did not appear in the series as she would not make her performing debut until 1973. An abridged version of their hit song "One Bad Apple" was used for the opening and closing credits of the show.
Michael Jeffrey Lloyd is an American record producer, arranger, songwriter and musician. After working with Mike Curb, Kim Fowley and others in the mid-to-late 1960s on musical projects including the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, and Steven Spielberg's first short film, Amblin', he became a producer of such teen idol pop stars as the Osmonds, Shaun Cassidy and Leif Garrett in the 1970s.
Marie is an American comedy-variety limited series hosted by and starring singer-actress Marie Osmond that aired on NBC from December 12, 1980 to September 26, 1981 with a total of seven episodes, split across two abbreviated seasons.
Side by Side: The True Story of the Osmond Family is a 1982 American made-for-television biographical film about the earlier years of the famed entertainment family, starring Marie Osmond as matriarch Olive Osmond, and Joseph Bottoms as patriarch George Osmond. This film was released on VHS tape in 1998 but has never had an official DVD issue.
The discography of American music group The Osmond Brothers consists of twenty-eight albums and forty-three singles.
The discography of American pop duo Donny and Marie Osmond contains seven studio albums, four compilation albums, one soundtrack album, one live album and 12 singles. Both siblings had previously had successful solo music careers before first collaborating in 1974; Donny was also a member of his brothers' band, The Osmonds. Their first single, "I'm Leaving It Up to You," reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100. Their corresponding debut album of the same name peaked at number 35 on the Billboard 200 chart in November 1974. The release certified gold in the United States for sales beyond 500,000 copies. Together, the duo had two more hits that reached both the top ten and 20 of the Hot 100: "Deep Purple" and "Morning Side of the Mountain."
