Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an American singer and actor of stage, screen, radio and television.
John David Marks was an American songwriter. He specialized in Christmas songs and wrote many holiday standards, including "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer", "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", "A Holly Jolly Christmas", "Silver and Gold", "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day", and "Run Rudolph Run".
Donald William 'Bob' Johnston was an American record producer, best known for his work with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, and Simon & Garfunkel.
Christmas Songs by Sinatra is the name of the third studio album by the American singer Frank Sinatra. It was released in 1948 as a 78 rpm album set and a 10" LP record featuring a collection of 8 holiday songs. A compilation album was released in 1994 including the songs released on the 1948 album along with Christmas songs from his years recording at Columbia.
Anthony C. Mottola was an American jazz guitarist who released dozens of solo albums. Mottola was born in Kearny, New Jersey and died in Denville.
Anita Jean Grilli, known professionally as Anita Kerr, is an American singer, arranger, composer, conductor, pianist, and music producer. She recorded and performed with her vocal harmony groups in Nashville, Los Angeles, and Europe.
Songs for Christmas is a box set of five separate EPs of Christmas-related songs and carols recorded by independent musician Sufjan Stevens between 2001 and 2006. The EPs had been given as gifts to friends and family of Stevens over the past six years, except for 2004 where he was too busy recording the Illinois album. Though the first three EPs have been available on Sufjan Stevens-related fansites for several years, Songs for Christmas is the first official release of these EPs. Most of the tracks are versions of traditional Christmas songs, with a number of original compositions such as "Sister Winter" and "Star of Wonder". Sufjan Stevens has developed a reputation for being a devoted Christian and many of the songs he chose for inclusion on Songs for Christmas are religious in nature, including his original compositions.
"Christmas on the Sea," also known as "Christmas by the Bay," is an old New England song with music by George Frederick Root and lyrics by Hezekiah Butterworth. Reportedly it was President Theodore Roosevelt's favorite Christmas song. Among the few artists who have recorded it are Burl Ives on the albums Christmas at the White House (1972) and Christmas by the Bay (1977) and Stan Ransom on his albums North Country Christmas (1994) and My Long Island Home (1997).
"The Seven Joys of Mary" is a traditional carol about Mary's happiness at moments in the life of Jesus, probably inspired by the trope of the Seven Joys of the Virgin in the devotional literature and art of Medieval Europe. Though not traditionally associated with Christmas, it has become so in the modern era.
"A Holly Jolly Christmas" is a Christmas song written by Johnny Marks and most famously performed by Burl Ives. The song has since become one of the Top 25 most-performed "holiday" songs written by ASCAP members, for the first five years of the 21st century.
Christmas by the Bay, recorded at the Sail Loft in the Washington Navy Yard, is Burl Ives's last original Christmas album. It includes only one new Christmas song by Ives: "The Sense of Christmas." The other songs are new performances of previously recorded songs: "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"; "A Holly, Jolly Christmas"; "Christmas by the Bay" ; "White Christmas" ; and "The Friendly Beasts". On all of these songs he is accompanied by the United States Navy Band, conducted by Ned Muffley.
Christmas in Vienna is a 1993 album released by American soul singer Diana Ross, and Spanish tenors Plácido Domingo and José Carreras for the Sony Classical label. The concert that formed the basis of this album was Domingo's first in his series of televised Christmas in Vienna concerts.
Christmas Album is a late-1968 album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. It was the group's eleventh release. The LP edition of the album was issued twice. The original edition had the cover photography filling the front and back sides of the album jacket. For the reissue, the photos were reduced to half size and placed in the center of a white background. Although the Brass' albums were out of print for a good many years, the Christmas Album was released on CD in the 1980s, with annual reappearances in record stores at Christmastime. The album was re-released again on CD by the Shout!Factory label in 2006 as were many of the other Tijuana Brass albums. The Shout!Factory release restored the original artwork to the front cover and featured the original back cover on the included CD booklet. Another CD re-release occurred on October 23, 2015, this time restoring the original artwork to the front and back.
Kurt Kaiser was an American contemporary church music composer and arranger.
Burl Ives Sings Little White Duck and Other Children’s Favorites is a 12-inch LP album of folk songs for children recorded by Burl Ives for Columbia Records between 1949 and 1951. The label, in 1950, crafted a "shared" 10-inch children's LP. On side one, Hollywood actor Victor Jory narrated Tubby the Tuba, while side two featured Burl Ives performing seven tunes under the title Animal Fair: Songs for Children. The catalog number was JL 8103. One year earlier, Animal Fair: Songs for Children had been presented separately on a two-disc 78-rpm set, using as a catalog number MJV 59. In 1956, another Ives endeavor for children appeared, containing "The Little White Duck" and six other ditties. Part of Columbia's brief (1955–56) House Party Series of 10-inch LPs, the album was called Children's Favorites, affixed with the catalog number CL 2570. Next, a new collection, expanded to 12 inches, combining these 14 Ives selections and 2 additional ones and entitled Burl Ives Sings Songs for All Ages, was issued by Columbia in 1957, bearing CL 980 as the catalog number. Two years later, this album was shortened by two tracks, christened with its final title, Burl Ives Sings Little White Duck and Other Children's Favorites, and reassigned to Columbia's budget label, Harmony Records, which employed HL 9507 as the catalog number. Being the customary practice in the vinyl marketplace of the 60s, this monaural platter wound up electronically enhanced for stereo, circa 1963, and given the modified catalog number HS 14507. Columbia, in 1974, reissued the LP, again in simulated stereo, with the catalog number C 33183. At the same time, the label also transferred the album to cassette tape, affixing the catalog number CT 33183. On November 22, 1988, Columbia unveiled the album in CD format, which upgraded the sound quality to digital stereo. Distribution of the disc then was taken over by Sony Wonder on October 3, 1995. The 1974 LP cover, later retained for the CD, was designed by Ed Lee and Eloise Smith, with illustrations by Reynolds Ruffin. Currently, the CD is out of print, but it still can be purchased through online music sellers. Moreover, all the album tracks are now available via MP3 downloading.
The Union Boys was an American folk music group, formed impromptu in 1944, to record several songs on an album called Songs for Victory: Music for Political Action. Its "all-star leftist" members were Josh White, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Pete Seeger, Burl Ives, Tom Glazer.
"Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is a song by songwriter Johnny Marks based on the 1939 story Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer published by the Montgomery Ward Company. Gene Autry's recording hit No. 1 on the U.S. charts the week of Christmas 1949.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a soundtrack album to the 1964 Rankin/Bass television special of the same name. The original cast recordings from the TV special are supplemented with instrumental versions recorded by the Decca Concert Orchestra. All songs used in the television special were written by Johnny Marks.
Personal Christmas Collection is a compilation album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released by Columbia Records in 1994 and includes selections from his first three solo holiday LPs, The Andy Williams Christmas Album, Merry Christmas, and Christmas Present.
