AVE MARIA

FRANK SINATRA
SONGWRITER: JÖRGEN ELOFSSON
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: CHRISTMAS SONG BY SINATRA/CD
LABEL: COLUMBIA RECORDS
GENRE: CHRISTMAS SONG
YEAR: 1994
 
          Francis Albert Sinatra, noto come Frank Sinatra (/fræŋk sᵻ'nɑːtrə/) (Hoboken, 12 dicembre 1915 – West Hollywood, 14 maggio 1998), è stato un cantante, attore, comico e conduttore televisivo statunitense di origine italiana.
            Considerato da molti critici musicali la più grande voce del XX secolo, è noto in Italia soprattutto come The Voice, mentre negli Stati Uniti d'America e in altri Paesi era conosciuto anche con soprannomi come Ol' Blue Eyes, Frankie, Swoonatra (derivato dal verbo swoon, "svenire", riferito all'effetto che produceva sulle sue ammiratrici) e molti altri. Fu un personaggio importante e carismatico dell'intrattenimento statunitense e mondiale, ed è entrato nella leggenda per l'eterna giovinezza delle sue canzoni e della sua voce, riuscendo ad imporsi nel panorama musicale mondiale dal periodo della grande depressione americana fino ai giorni nostri, grazie ad un'intensa attività durata oltre 60 anni, dai primi anni Trenta fino al 1995, anno in cui tenne il suo ultimo concerto dal vivo.
          Con centinaia di milioni di dischi venduti è considerato uno dei più prolifici artisti musicali. Nella sua lunghissima carriera, che ha coperto ben sette decenni, si è aggiudicato complessivamente due premi Oscar (uno per meriti cinematografici e l'altro è il Premio umanitario Jean Hersholt), due Golden Globe, ventuno Grammy Awards, un Emmy Award, il Cecil B. De Mille Award, un Peabody Award, il Kennedy Center Honors nel 1983.
           Nel 1985 ricevette dal presidente Ronald Reagan la Presidential Medal of freedom (Medaglia presidenziale della libertà) e nel 1997 gli Stati Uniti lo onorarono con la Congressional Gold Medal (Medaglia d'oro del Congresso), la più alta onorificenza assegnata dagli USA. Oltre 2200 brani e più di 60 album di canzoni inedite pubblicati (esclusi i postumi e le raccolte) ne fanno uno dei cantanti con la maggior produzione discografica della storia.
          Christmas Songs by Sinatra è un álbum natalizio del crooner statunitense Frank Sinatra, pubblicato nel 1948 dalla Columbia Records.
              Christmas Songs contiene standard musicali di Natale cantate con la voce rassicurante del Sinatra giovanile e con grandi cori. Le canzoni sono state registrate tra il 1944 e il 1948, e sono state arrangiate da Axel Stordahl. L'album raggiunse la seconda posizione nella classifica Billboard 200.
           Nelle edizioni successive vennero aggiunte sette tracce addizionali, tutte registrate tra il 1948 e il 1950, e l'ordine dei brani venne cambiato.

Gratia plena
Maria, gratia plena
Maria, gratia plena
Ave, ave dominus
Dominus tecum
Benedicta tu in mulierbus
Et benedictus
Et benedictus fructus ventris
Ventris tue, Jesus.
Ave Maria
Ave Maria
Mater Dei
Ora pro nobis peccatoribut
Ora pro nobis
Ora, ora pro nobis peccatoribut
Nunc et in hora mortis
Et in hora mortis nostres
Et in hora mortis nostres
Et in hora mortis nostres
Ave Maria.

SILENT NIGHT

DINAH WASHINGTON
SONGWRITHER: FRANZ XAVER GRUBER & JOSEPH MOHR
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: SILENT NIGHT
LABEL: MERCURY RECORDS
GENRE: CHRISTMAS SONG
YEAR: 1953
 
              Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performed and recorded in a wide variety of styles including blues, R&B, and traditional pop music, and gave herself the title of "Queen of the Blues". She was a 1986 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
          Ruth Lee Jones was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to Alice and Ollie Jones, and moved to Chicago as a child. She became deeply involved in gospel and played piano for the choir in St. Luke's Baptist Church while still in elementary school. She sang gospel music in church and played piano, directing her church choir in her teens and being a member of the Sallie Martin Gospel Singers. When she joined the Sallie Martin group, she dropped out of Wendell Phillips High School. She sang lead with the first female gospel singers formed by Sallie Martin, who was co-founder of the Gospel Singers Convention. Her involvement with the gospel choir occurred after she won an amateur contest at Chicago's Regal Theater where she sang "I Can't Face the Music".
                  After winning a talent contest at the age of 15, she began performing in clubs. By 1941–42 she was performing in such Chicago clubs as Dave's Café and the Downbeat Room of the Sherman Hotel (with Fats Waller). She was playing at the Three Deuces, a jazz club, when a friend took her to hear Billie Holiday at the Garrick Stage Bar. Club owner Joe Sherman was so impressed with her singing of "I Understand", backed by the Cats and the Fiddle, who were appearing in the Garrick's upstairs room, that he hired her. During her year at the Garrick – she sang upstairs while Holiday performed in the downstairs room – she acquired the name by which she became known. She credited Joe Sherman with suggesting the change from Ruth Jones, made before Lionel Hampton came to hear Dinah at the Garrick. Hampton's visit brought an offer, and Washington worked as his female band vocalist after she had sung with the band for its opening at the Chicago Regal Theatre.
              She made her recording debut for the Keynote label that December with "Evil Gal Blues", written by Leonard Feather and backed by Hampton and musicians from his band, including Joe Morris (trumpet) and Milt Buckner (piano). Both that record and its follow-up, "Salty Papa Blues", made the Billboard "Harlem Hit Parade" in 1944. In December 1945 she made a series of twelve recordings for Apollo Records, 10 of which were issued, featuring the "Lucky Thompson All Stars.
            "Silent Night" (German: "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht") is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2011. The song has been recorded by many singers across many music genres. The version sung by Bing Crosby in 1935 is the fourth best-selling single of all-time.

Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace
 
Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
 
Silent night, holy night
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing alleluia
Christ, the Saviour is born
Christ, the Saviour is born. 

O HOLY NIGHT

PERRY COMO
SONGWRITERS: ADOLPHE ADAM & JOHN SULLIVAN DWIGHT
COUNTRY: ITALYXU. S. A.
ALBUM: THE PERRY COMO CHRISTMAS ALBUM
LABEL: RCA VICTOR
GENRE: CRHISTMAS SONG
YEAR: 1968
 
                Pierino Ronald "Perry"Como (/ˈkoʊmoʊ/; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an Italian-American singer, actor and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, after signing with the label in 1943.
        He recorded primarily vocal pop and was renowned for recordings in the intimate, easy-listening genre pioneered by multi-media star Bing Crosby.
              "Mr. C.", as he was nicknamed, sold millions of records and pioneered a weekly musical variety television show. His weekly television shows and seasonal specials were broadcast throughout the world. In the official RCA Records Billboard magazine memorial, his life was summed up in these few words: "50 years of music and a life well lived. An example to all."
              Como received five Emmys from 1955 to 1959, a Christopher Award (1956) and shared a Peabody Award with good friend Jackie Gleason in 1956. He was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in 1990 and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1987. Posthumously, Como received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002 and was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2006. He has the distinction of having three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio, television, and music.
            The Perry Como Christmas Album is Perry Como's 15th RCA Victor 12" long-play album.
             Como is accompanied on the album by the Ray Charles Singers and an orchestra arranged and conducted by Nick Perito. On two songs, "The Little Drummer Boy" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", boy choristers from the Little Church Around the Corner and from Saint Thomas Church (Manhattan) also participated.
 

O holy night
the stars are brightly shining
It is the night
of the dear Saviour's birth!
 
Long lay the world
in sin and error pining
'till He appeared
and the soul felt it's worth!
 
A thrill of hope
the weary world rejoices,
for yonder breaks
a new an' glorious morn!
 
Fall on your knees
O hear the angel voices
O night divine
O night, when Christ was born
 
O night divine O night,
O night divine!
 
Fall on your knees
O hear the angel voices
O night divine
O night, when Christ was born
 
O night divine O night,
O night divine!
O holy night
O night divine.

WHITE CHRISTMAS

ELVIS PRESLEY
SONGWRITER: IRVING BERLIN
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: ELVIS’ CHRISTMAL ALBUM
LABEL: RCA VICTOR
GENRE: CHRISTMAS SONG
YEAR: 1957
 
               Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), also known simply as Elvis, was an American singer, musician and actor. He is regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century and is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King". His energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, led him to great success—and initial controversy.
           Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family when he was 13 years old. His music career began there in 1954, recording at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African-American music to a wider audience. Presley, on rhythm acoustic guitar, and accompanied by lead guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, was a pioneer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country music and rhythm and blues. In 1955, drummer D. J. Fontana joined to complete the lineup of Presley's classic quartet and RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, who would manage him for more than two decades. Presley's first RCA single, "Heartbreak Hotel", was released in January 1956 and became a number-one hit in the United States. With a series of successful network television appearances and chart-topping records, he became the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll.
                In November 1956, Presley made his film debut in Love Me Tender. Drafted into military service in 1958, Presley relaunched his recording career two years later with some of his most commercially successful work. He held few concerts, however, and guided by Parker, proceeded to devote much of the 1960s to making Hollywood films and soundtrack albums, most of them critically derided. In 1968, following a seven-year break from live performances, he returned to the stage in the acclaimed television comeback special Elvis, which led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and a string of highly profitable tours. In 1973, Presley gave the first concert by a solo artist to be broadcast around the world, Aloha from Hawaii. Years of prescription drug abuse severely compromised his health, and he died suddenly in 1977 at his Graceland estate at the age of 42.
              With his rise from poverty to significant fame, Presley's success seemed to epitomize the American Dream. He is the best-selling solo music artist of all time, and was commercially successful in many genres, including pop, country, R&B, adult contemporary, and gospel. He won three Grammy Awards, received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, and has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame. Presley holds several records; the most RIAA certified gold and platinum albums, the most albums charted on the Billboard 200, and the most number-one albums by a solo artist on the UK Albums Chart and the most number-one singles by any act on the UK Singles Chart. In 2018, Presley was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
         Elvis' Christmas Album (also reissued as It's Christmas Time) is the third studio album and first Christmas album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley on RCA Victor, LOC -1035, a deluxe limited edition, released October 15, 1957, and recorded at Radio Recorders in Hollywood. It has been reissued in numerous different formats since its first release. It spent four weeks at Nº. 1 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart, and was the first of two Christmas-themed albums Presley would record, the other being Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas, released in 1971. The publication Music Vendor listed Elvis' Christmas Album on their singles charts for two weeks in December 1957 – January 1958, with a peak position of Nº. 49.
         According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Elvis' Christmas Album along with its reissues has shipped at least 17 million copies in the United States. It is the first Presley title to attain Diamond certification by the RIAA, and is also the best-selling Christmas album of all time in the United States. With total sales of more 20 million copies worldwide, it remains the world's best-selling Christmas album and one of the best-selling albums of all time.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas,
Just like the ones I used to know.
Where those tree-tops glisten,
And children listen
To hear sleighbells in the snow.
 
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas,
With every Christmas card I write,
A may your days be merry and bright,
And may all your Christmases be white.
 
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas,
Just like the ones I used to know.
A may your days may your days may your days be merry and bright,
And may all your Christmases be white.