What do a famous talk-show host, one of the most popular female singers of the last decade of the 20th century, and a hair-metal icon have in common? All are part of my Christmas Song of the Day for December 3. In the early 1990s, Dee Snider, best known as the leader of the group Twisted Sister (Were Not Gonna Take It), receives a request from his wife to write a Christmas song as a present. Snider balks, thinking he had nothing new to say about the holiday season. But he persists, and with the help of some studio pros, the song is recorded and given to his wife, who loves it. A copy of the song is also kept by the producer of the session, Ric Wake. Fast forward to 1998. Wake is now working with none other than international superstar Celine Dion, whose next studio project is the Christmas album that was released as These Are Special Times. In addition to some of the usual standards, Celine chooses to do some new songs. Without telling her who wrote it, the producer lets Celine hear Dee Sniders song for his wife, and she decides to record it. The CD sells more than 10 million copies worldwide, and the songwriting royalties make Dee into a wealthy man. A year passes. Talk show host Rosie ODonnell, who has become the second most popular daytime chat queen, trailing only Oprah Winfrey, decides to issue a holiday CD, and she is singing on it! This could have been a disaster, but she gets a lot of famous friends to help her. One of them is Celine Dion. Using the same basic backing track as the 1998 recording, Rosie sings several lines, a childrens choir is overdubbed, and the sound is fattened up to make it sound like a lost cousin of Phil Spectors Christmas album. The new version of the song ends up as the opening number of A Rosie Christmas, both the CD that sold another couple million copies and the prime-time TV special of the same name. And here is that song, from 1999: The Magic of Christmas Day (God Bless Us Everyone) as done by Celine Dion and Rosie ODonnell. https://youtube/watch?v=DJ0kZRMzZ5g
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 05:19:30 +0000
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