The journey to get 鈥淢erry Christmas Everybody,鈥� a heartfelt holiday tune to the airwaves, sounds like a story fit for an annual Hallmark movie.
The dismissal from a massive pop-star, the toil of an Oscar winner, and the support of a 91原创 singer all went into making the song a reality over a 20 year span.
The song was composed by Academy Award winner Franke Previte , who earned his statuette for penning the 1987 mega-hit 鈥�(I鈥檝e Had) The Time of My Life鈥� for the Dirty Dancing soundtrack.
In 1996, he was asked to craft up an original Christmas song for Christina Aguilera 鈥� thus 鈥淢erry Christmas Everybody鈥� was born.
When producers felt the tempo was too soft for Aguilera鈥檚 style, Previte shoved the song into a drawer and moved on with his career, penning hits like Eric Carmen鈥檚 鈥淗ungry Eyes鈥�.
He ended up revisiting it two decades later, which is when his friend and music agent Kenjamin Franklin heard the demo.
Franklin reached out to 91原创 singer/songwriter Tiffany Desrosiers, and the rest became history.
鈥淚 had met Ken about three years ago when he was doing music licensing,鈥� Desrosiers recalled. 鈥淚 hadn鈥檛 heard from him in two years but he reached out to me last January and asked if we鈥檇 been interested in the project.鈥�
Desrosiers belongs to Vivace, a classical crossover vocal group based in Vancouver, which combines four pop and classical singers.
She took it to Vivace and thought the melody was perfect, as ballads fit more within the group鈥檚 range.
After adding composer Dusty Micale and performer Mark Masri to the mix, the group got to recording in Vancouver and Coquitlam.
鈥淚 really like very much that it is a classic Christmas song,鈥� Desrosiers explained. 鈥淚 think a lot of phrases are getting lost and not as many people are celebrating Christmas anymore. The song really brings about the spirit.鈥�
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Desrosiers said she didn鈥檛 physically meet Franklin or Previte, but a lot of calls and emails went into making 鈥淢erry Christmas Everybody鈥� the best that it could be.
鈥淔ranke [Previte] is such a genius with melodies and putting in curves and hooks,鈥� she explained. 鈥滻 think the song brings about a spirit of magic and peace and I hope those who have a hard time around the holidays find peace in it.鈥�
A portion of people鈥檚 purchase of the song, when downloaded from radiotv, will go to support Toys For Tots.
For more information, people can check out the song at .
Desrosiers added that it is tough for new holiday works to compete with the hundreds of classic Christmas songs already out there, so in order to secure some airplay, she asks if you like to the tune, please request to hear it on local radio stations.
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Email: ryan.uytdewilligen@langleyadvancetimes.com
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