Gladys knight christmas songs10/30/2023 ![]() Recorded by a vast roster of artists in a wide variety of styles over the last hundred years, "O Holy Night" has a deeply operatic melody and structure. Indeed, Thomas' version of "O Holy Night" is a marvel from beginning to end. Bottom line-this singer has always been every inch as potent as such contemporaries as Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Mavis Staples and Etta James, even if her singles never cracked the pop charts as often as many of us thought she deserved. Over time I came to love such other Thomas gems as "I Done Got Over It," "It's Raining," "Ruler of My Heart" (later remade by Otis Redding as "Pain In My Heart"), "Wish Someone Would Care," and many others. Of course, I'd been a fan of this force of nature known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans" since the mid-60s, when the Rolling Stones' cover of "Time Is On My Side" pointed me in the direction of the woman who recorded the original version. Irma Thomas, the "Soul Queen of New Orleans" (above in 1967), released such gems as "I Done Got Over It," "It's Raining," "Ruler of My Heart," Wish Someone Care" and many others. But the best was Thomas' take on "O Holy Night." There was a lot to enjoy, including tracks by Allen Toussaint, Aaron Neville and Luther Kent. ![]() In 1986, Warren "Bubby" Valentino released a compilation of tunes by various artists entitled A Creole Christmas. I prefer to think that I'm merely devoted to the very best of it. My wife contends that I've long since become obsessed with the subject. In search of a merrier (and more secular) Christmas, I started in 1984 to curate a seasonal soundtrack, Xmas Jollies, for my friends and family, and I've done it every year since. I liked everything about the way they observed the holiday except for the very traditional music. That changed, though, when I married a gentile and began to celebrate Christmas with my wife’s family. At our house when I was growing up, it was all about dreidels and a menorah, and while there was no escaping Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" and Gene Autry's "Rudolf, the Red Nosed Reindeer" on the radio, I was hardly a devotée of yuletide music. To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy Notice.It's entirely possible that when I first listened to Irma Thomas belt out her rendition of "O Holy Night" in 1990, it was also the first time I’d ever heard the Christmas classic. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie Preferences, as described in the Cookie Notice. Click ‘Customise Cookies’ to decline these cookies, make more detailed choices, or learn more. Third parties use cookies for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalised ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. ![]() This includes using first- and third-party cookies, which store or access standard device information such as a unique identifier. If you agree, we’ll also use cookies to complement your shopping experience across the Amazon stores as described in our Cookie Notice. We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements. We use cookies and similar tools that are necessary to enable you to make purchases, to enhance your shopping experiences and to provide our services, as detailed in our Cookie Notice.
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