"Crying for a Christmas" is a song written by the first American Idol songwriting winners Scott Krippayne and Jeff Peabody. The song was written in 2007 and the original recorded version was performed by Scott Krippayne.
Background
After writing their winning song "This Is My Now" for Jordin Sparks, Krippayne and Peabody were asked by the youth group at New Day Church in NE Tacoma, Washington to write a song to accompany a video the youth group was producing for the church's Christmas Eve service. The pair teamed up to write something as a labor of love for the congregation, with no intention of ever giving it a wider audience. After Krippayne finished recording the song in November 2007, Peabody sent it to Seattle radio station KCMS to see if there was any interest in it. That very day, the station added it to their playlist and kept it in heavy rotation through the holiday season. Sarah Taylor, music director for KCMS, said, "Christmas can be a very lonely time of year - and this song offers the hope we all need. We had to add it."
Given the station's enthusiastic response, Krippayne and Peabody decided to try distributing the song on a broader scale to stations nationwide in 2008, under the Pirk Music label. It was made available as a digital download through iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazon and other online vendors.
With zero marketing budget and no song promoters to support it, the song still managed to defy industry odds: It received enough airplay to make the Billboard and Radio & Record charts in December 2008. Besides the U.S., stations in Canada, Ireland, Australia and the UK also added the song to their Christmas playlists.