I BELIEVE IN FATHER CHRISTMAS
SARAH BRIGHTMAN
SONGWRITERS: GREG LAKE; PETER JOHN SINFIELD &
SERGE PROFIEFF
COUNTRY: U. K.
ALBUM: A WINTER SYNPHONY
LABEL: MANHATTAN RECORDS
GENRE: CHRISTMAS
YEAR: 2008
Sarah Brightman(born 14 August 1960) is an
English classical
crossover soprano, singer,
songwriter, actress, dancer, and musician.
Brightman began her career as a member of the
dance troupe Hot Gossip and
released several disco singles as a solo performer. In 1981, she made her West End musical
theatre debut in Cats and met
composer Andrew Lloyd
Webber, whom she later married. She went on to star
in several West End and Broadway musicals,
including The Phantom of the Opera,
where she originated the role of Christine Daaé. Her
original London cast album of Phantom was released in CD format in 1987 and
sold 40 million copies worldwide, making it the biggest-selling cast album
ever.
After retiring from the stage and divorcing
Lloyd Webber, Brightman resumed her music career with former Enigma producer Frank Peterson, this
time as a classical crossover artist.
She has been credited as the creator and remains among the most prominent
performers of this genre, with worldwide sales of more than 25 million albums
and two million DVDs, establishing herself as the world's best-selling soprano.
Brightman's 1996 duet with the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, "Time to Say Goodbye",
topped the charts all over Europe and became the highest and fastest-selling
single of all-time in Germany, where it stayed at the top of the charts for 14
consecutive weeks and sold over three million copies. It subsequently became an
international success, selling 12 million copies worldwide, making it one of
the best-selling
singles of all-time. She has collected over 200 gold
and platinum record awards in 38 different countries. In 2010, she was named by
Billboard the fifth most influential and best-selling classical artist of the
2000s decade in the US and according to Nielsen SoundScan, she has
sold 6.5million albums in the country.
Brightman is the first artist to have been
invited twice to perform the theme song at the Olympic Games, first
at the 1992 Barcelona
Olympic Games where she sang "Amigos Para
Siempre" with the Spanish tenor José Carreras with an estimated global audience of a billion people, and 16 years
later in 2008 in Beijing,
this time with Chinese singer Liu Huan,
performing the song "You and Me"
to an estimated four billion people worldwide.
In 2012, Brightman was appointed as the UNESCO Artist
for Peace for the period 2012–2014, for her
"commitment to humanitarian and charitable causes, her contribution,
throughout her artistic career, to the promotion of cultural dialogue and the
exchanges among cultures, and her dedication to the ideals and aims of the
Organization". Since 2010, Brightman has been Panasonic's global
brand ambassador.
In 2014, she began training for a journey to
the International
Space Station, later postponed until further
notice, citing personal reasons. Brightman was awarded the decoration
'Cavaliere' in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic on 2 June 2016 and an honorary doctorate from the University of
Hertfordshire in 2018, in recognition of her
outstanding contributions to music and theatre.
A Winter Symphony is a Christmas album from
the English soprano singer Sarah Brightman,
released in November 2008.
The album borrows its name from Brightman's
earlier 2008 album, Symphony.
A deluxe edition was released through Barnes & Noble, which
included extra tracks and a DVD that featured documentary segments: "The
Making of A Winter Symphony", a photo gallery, and Brightman's live
performances of "Fleurs du Mal", "Symphony",
"Let It Rain", and "Running".
Brightman chose a number of traditional songs
from the season: "Silent Night",
"In the Bleak Midwinter", and "Child in a Manger", as well
as two versions of "Ave Maria", one being the classical piece by
French composer Charles Gounod, and the
other—in duet with tenor Fernando Lima—an original by Brightman and Mexican
composer Jorge Avedaño. Included are also contemporary pop tunes, such as Vince Gill's
"Colder Than Winter", a cover of Neil Diamond's
"I've Been
This Way Before" and Roy Wood's
"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday". The set continues with a
rendition of "Amazing Grace"
and closes with a reading of "I Believe in
Father Christmas" originally by Emerson, Lake
& Palmer.
They said
"There'll be snow at Christmas"
They said "There'll be peace on Earth"
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the Virgin's birth
I remember one Christmas morning
A winter's light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that Christmas-tree smell
And their eyes full of tinsel and fire
They sold me a dream
of Christmas
They sold me a Silent Night
They told me a fairy story
Till I believed in the Israelite
And I believed in Father Christmas
And I looked at the sky with excited eyes
'Till I woke with a yawn, in the first light of dawn
And I saw him through his disguise
I wish you a hopeful
Christmas
I wish you a brave New Year
All anguish, pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said "There'll be snow at Christmas"
They said "There'll be peace on Earth"
Hallelujah, Noel!
Be it Heaven or Hell
The Christmas we get we deserve.
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