Chicago XXV: The Christmas Album is an album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 of Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 songs by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band Chicago

Chicago (band)

Chicago is an American rock band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. The self-described "rock and roll band with horns" began as a politically charged, sometimes experimental, rock band and later moved to a predominantly softer sound, becoming famous for producing a number of hit ballads. They had...

, released in 1998 on the band's Chicago Records label. The album was re-issued by Rhino Records in 2003 as What's It Gonna Be, Santa? with six additional, newly recorded tracks.

Produced by Roy Bittan

Roy Bittan

Roy Bittan is an American keyboardist, best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, which he joined on August 23, 1974...

, the original album - featuring Chicago's interpretations of well-known Christmas classics plus one original tune (co-penned by Lee Loughnane) - was very well received upon its release in August 1998, peaking at #47 in the US and going gold during a stay of 7 weeks on the charts. After Chicago entered into a long-term partnership with Rhino Records in 2002, that label re-issued Chicago XXV: The Christmas Album that same year. It was further decided to record six additional Christmas songs - with Hot Streets

Hot Streets

Hot Streets is the 12th album by American rock band Chicago and released in 1978. In many ways, Hot Streets marked the beginning of a new era for the band...

and Chicago 13

Chicago 13

Chicago 13 is the 13th album by American rock band Chicago and was released in 1979. The follow-up to Hot Streets, Chicago 13 is often considered an unpopular release among Chicago's catalog, both critically and with fans...

producer Phil Ramone

Phil Ramone

Phil Ramone is a South-African violinist, composer, recording engineer, and record producer.-Biography:As a young child in South Africa, Ramone was a musical prodigy, beginning to play the violin at age three and performing for Queen Elizabeth II at age ten...

 - and re-issue the whole package in 2003 under a new design, title and sequencing, entitled What's It Gonna Be, Santa?, deleting its predecessor in the process. It has been reported that the band had initially considered recording an entirely new holiday effort, but didn't due to cost factors.
Guitarist Keith Howland sang his first lead vocal on the track, "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas". This later release reached #102 in the US during a stay of 5 weeks on the charts.

Chicago XXV: The Christmas Album

1. "The Little Drummer Boy
   Little Drummer Boy
   "The Little Drummer Boy," originally known as "Carol of the Drum," is a popular Christmas song written by the American classical music composer/teacher Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. It was recorded 1955 by the Trapp Family Singers and further popularized by a 1958 recording by the Harry...
   
   " (Katherine Davis/Henry Onorati/Harry Simeone) – 4:05
2. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
   God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
   God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen is an English traditional Christmas carol. The melody is in Aeolian mode. It was published by William B...
   
   " (Traditional) – 3:23
3. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
   Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
   "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is a song introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me in St. Louis. Frank Sinatra later recorded a version with modified lyrics, which has become more common than the original. The song was written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane...
   
   " (Hugh Martin/Ralph Blane) – 4:02
4. "The Christmas Song
   The Christmas Song
   "The Christmas Song" is a classic Christmas song written in 1944 by musician, composer, and vocalist Mel Tormé and Bob Wells. According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer...
   
   " (Mel Tormé
   Mel Tormé
   Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
   
   /Robert Wells) – 3:39
5. "O Come All Ye Faithful" (Traditional) – 4:46
6. "Child's Prayer" (Lee Loughnane
   Lee Loughnane
   Lee Loughnane , born 21 October 1946 in Elmwood Park, Illinois to Juanita Wall and Philip Louis Loughnane, is an American trumpeter, flugelhorn player, vocalist, and songwriter, best known for being a founding member of the rock band Chicago.- Biography :...
   
   /John Durrill) – 3:24
7. "Feliz Navidad
   Feliz Navidad (song)
   "Feliz Navidad" is a Christmas song written in 1970 by the Puerto Rican singer-songwriter José Feliciano. With its simple Spanish chorus "Feliz Navidad" is a Christmas song written in 1970 by the Puerto Rican singer-songwriter José Feliciano. With its simple Spanish chorus "Feliz Navidad" is a...
   
   " (Jose Feliciano
   José Feliciano
   José Feliciano is a Puerto Rican singer, virtuoso guitarist and composer known for many international hits including the 1970 holiday single "Feliz Navidad".-Childhood:...
   
   ) – 4:17
8. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
   Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
   "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" is a Christmas song. It was written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie, and was first sung on Eddie Cantor's radio show in November 1934....
   
   " (Haven Gillespie/Fred Coots) – 3:56
9. "Christmas Time Is Here" (Lee Mendelson
   Lee Mendelson
   Lee Mendelson is an American television producer. He is best known as the executive producer of the many Peanuts animated specials....
   
   /Vince Guaraldi
   Vince Guaraldi
   Vincent Anthony "Vince" Guaraldi was an Italian American jazz musician and pianist noted for his innovative compositions and arrangements and for composing music for animated adaptations of the Peanuts comic strip...
   
   ) – 3:49
10. "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" (Sammy Cahn/Julie Styne) – 3:29
11. "What Child Is This?
    What Child Is This?
    "What Child Is This?" is a popular Christmas carol written in 1865. At the age of twenty-nine, English writer William Chatterton Dix was struck with a sudden near-fatal illness and confined to bedrest for several months, during which he went into a deep depression...
    
    " (Traditional) – 4:41
12. "White Christmas
    White Christmas (song)
    "White Christmas" is an Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the version sung by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single of all time, with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide.Accounts vary as...
    
    " (Irving Berlin
    Irving Berlin
    Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
    
    ) – 2:28
13. "Silent Night" (Traditional) – 3:18
14. "One Little Candle" (Larry Mysels, Joseph Maloy Roach) – 1:26

What's It Gonna Be, Santa?

1. "Winter Wonderland
   Winter Wonderland
   "Winter Wonderland" is a winter song, popularly treated as a Christmastime pop standard, written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith . Through the decades it has been recorded by over 150 different artists.-History:...
   
   " (Felix Bernard
   Felix Bernard
   Felix Bernard was an American conductor, pianist and a composer of popular music. His writing credits include the popular songs Winter Wonderland and Dardanella.-Biography:...
   
   /Dick Smith
   Richard B. Smith
   Richard B. Smith wrote the lyrics to the popular song Winter Wonderland, which was composed by Felix Bernard. Smith was born in Pennsylvania, and was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1931. He succumbed to the disease on September 28, 1935....
   
   ) – 4:19
2. "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" (Sammy Cahn/Julie Styne) – 3:29
3. "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas
   Jolly Old Saint Nicholas
   "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" is a Christmas song. Its authorship is often credited to Wilf Carter. However, since the song is mentioned in earlier works , this attribution is unlikely. The song has also been credited to Benjamin Hanby, author of "Up on the House Top", at some point in the 1860s,...
   
   " (Traditional) – 3:35
4. "The Little Drummer Boy" (Katherine Davis/Henry Onorati/Harry Simeone) – 4:05
5. "This Christmas" (Donny Hathaway
   Donny Hathaway
   Donny Edward Hathaway was an American soul singer-songwriter and musician. Hathaway contracted with Atlantic Records in 1969 and with his first single for the Atco label, "The Ghetto, Part I" in early 1970, Rolling Stone magazine "marked him as a major new force in soul music."His collaborations...
   
   /Nadine McKinnor) – 4:03
6. "Feliz Navidad" (Jose Feliciano) – 4:17
7. "Bethlehem" (Bill Champlin
   Bill Champlin
   William Bradford "Bill" Champlin is an American singer, guitarist, keyboard player, arranger, producer, and songwriter. His performance work is principally associated with the bands Chicago and the Sons of Champlin...
   
   /Tamara Champlin) – 4:07
8. "The Christmas Song" (Mel Tormé/Robert Wells) – 3:39
9. "O Come All Ye Faithful" (Traditional) – 4:46
10. "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
    Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
    Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer is a fictional reindeer with a glowing red nose. He is popularly known as "Santa's 9th Reindeer" and, when depicted, is the lead reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve. The luminosity of his nose is so great that it illuminates the team's path through...
    
    " (Johnny Marks
    Johnny Marks
    Johnny Marks was an American songwriter. Although he was Jewish, he specialized in Christmas songs and wrote many standards, including "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" , "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" , "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" , and "A Holly...
    
    ) – 3:44
11. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (Hugh Martin/Ralph Blane) – 4:02
12. "Sleigh Ride
    Sleigh Ride
    "Sleigh Ride" is a popular light orchestral piece composed by Leroy Anderson. The composer had the original idea for the piece during a heat wave in July 1946; he finished the work in February 1948. Lyrics, about a person who would like to ride in a sleigh on a winter's day with another person,...
    
    " (Leroy Anderson
    Leroy Anderson
    Leroy Anderson was an American composer of short, light concert pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler...
    
    /Mitchell Parish
    Mitchell Parish
    Mitchell Parish was an American lyricist.-Early life:Parish was born Michael Hyman Pashelinsky to a Jewish family in Lithuania. His family emigrated to the United States, arriving on February 3, 1901 on the SS Dresden when he was less than a year old...
    
    ) – 3:55
13. "Silent Night" (Traditional) – 3:18
14. "What Child Is This?" (Traditional) – 4:41
15. "Christmas Time Is Here" (Lee Mendelson/Vince Guaraldi) – 3:49
16. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (Traditional) – 3:23
17. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (Haven Gillespie/Fred Coots) – 3:56
18. "Child's Prayer" (Lee Loughnane/John Durrill) – 3:24
19. "One Little Candle" (Larry Mysels, Joseph Maloy Roach) – 1:24
20. "White Christmas" (Irving Berlin) – 2:28

Personnel

• Bill Champlin
  Bill Champlin
  William Bradford "Bill" Champlin is an American singer, guitarist, keyboard player, arranger, producer, and songwriter. His performance work is principally associated with the bands Chicago and the Sons of Champlin...
  
   - piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  s, keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  , guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  s, vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Keith Howland
  Keith Howland
  Keith Howland is an American guitarist and singer. Since 1995, he has been the lead guitarist for the veteran pop-rock band, Chicago....
  
   - guitars, vocals
• Tris Imboden
  Tris Imboden
  Tris Imboden is the current drummer with Chicago. He replaced their original drummer Danny Seraphine following his dismissal in 1990. Prior to joining Chicago, as well as during his tenure with the band, Imboden has had a career as a studio session player...
  
   - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  , percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  
• Robert Lamm
  Robert Lamm
  Robert William Lamm is an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter who came to fame as a founding member of the pop rock band Chicago...
  
   - pianos, keyboards, percussion, vocals, background vocals
• Lee Loughnane
  Lee Loughnane
  Lee Loughnane , born 21 October 1946 in Elmwood Park, Illinois to Juanita Wall and Philip Louis Loughnane, is an American trumpeter, flugelhorn player, vocalist, and songwriter, best known for being a founding member of the rock band Chicago.- Biography :...
  
   - trumpet
  Trumpet
  The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
  
  , flugelhorn
  Flugelhorn
  The flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the valve bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus...
  
  , cornet
  Cornet
  The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
  
  , guitar, percussion, vocals, background vocals
• James Pankow
  James Pankow
  James Carter "Jimmy" Pankow is an American trombone player, songwriter and brass instrument arranger best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago.-Early life:...
  
   - trombone
  Trombone
  The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
  
  , percussion, background vocals
• Walter Parazaider
  Walter Parazaider
  Walter Parazaider is best known for being a founding member and saxophone player for the rock band Chicago. He also plays the flute and other woodwind instruments in the band, including clarinet. On the hit "You're Not Alone," he played backing rhythm guitar.Parazaider began playing the clarinet...
  
   - saxophone
  Saxophone
  The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
  
  s, flute
  Flute
  The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
  
  , clarinet
  Clarinet
  The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
  
  
• Jason Scheff
  Jason Scheff
  Jason Randolph Scheff is an American bassist, singer and songwriter. Since 1985 he has been the bassist and singer for the veteran pop-rock band Chicago. He is the oldest son of well-known session bassist Jerry Scheff, who toured for several years with Elvis Presley...
  
   - bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , vocals, background vocals

Additional personnel

• Michael Amezcua - choir
• Roy Bittan
  Roy Bittan
  Roy Bittan is an American keyboardist, best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, which he joined on August 23, 1974...
  
   - organ, piano, accordion
  Accordion
  The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
  
  , keyboards, bells
• Ryan Bittan - choir
• Alex Brown - choir
• Tamara Champlin - choir
• Alvin Chea - choir
• Gia Ciambotti - choir
• Luis Conte
  Luis Conte
  Luis Conte is a Cuban percussionist.-Early years:As a child in Cuba, Conte began his musical odyssey playing the guitar. However, he soon switched to percussion, and that has remained his mode since....
  
   - percussion
• Johnny Durrill - synthesizer
• Gary Falcone - choir
• Clark Gable - choir
• Ryan Kelly - conductor
• Bobbi Page - choir
• Tim Pierce - acoustic guitar
• Carmen Twillie - background vocals, choir, choir director
• Oren Waters - choir
• Monalisa Young - choir