B-side "Be There" Format 7-inch Genre Christmas, R&B | Released 1970 (1970) Recorded 1970 (1970) Length 3:51 | |
"This Christmas" is a song by American soul musician Donny Hathaway released in 1970 by Atco Records. The song gained renewed interest when it was included in 1991 on Atco Records' revised edition of their 1968 Soul Christmas compilation album and has since become a modern Christmas standard, with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers reporting that it was the 30th most-performed holiday song of all time.
Contents
Phil Upchurch said the song was "absolutely the premiere holiday song written by an African American". It was written by Hathaway and Nadine McKinnor.
Background
"This Christmas" was recorded at Audio Finishers Studio on Ontario Street, Chicago in the fall of 1970. Ric Powell (see credits below) said that Hathaway was "very upbeat during the session" and that he "knew what he wanted to do musically and the impact he wanted to make with this song" regarding the representation of African Americans in Christmas music. On writing the song with Hathaway (who died in 1979), Nadine McKinnor said she felt "blessed to have written with Donny a song that celebrates the possibilities, the expectations, and the anticipation of Christmas and the good fun and happy loving times", and that the creation of the song "was a God plan. God was in this plan. And Donny Hathaway was a genius."
"This Christmas" was released as a single in 1970, where it saw little success, charting only once on any of Billboard magazine's weekly published music charts. It made Billboard's special Christmas Singles chart on the week of December 23, 1972, peaking at No. 11. In 1991, Atco Records released a revised edition of their 1968 compilation album Soul Christmas that included "This Christmas".
Cover versions
After the 1991 release of Atco Records' Soul Christmas, the song became particularly notable for the popularity of its numerous covers by other artists, particularly pop and R&B artists. Prior to this re-release, artists who recorded cover versions included The Temptations, Gladys Knight & the Pips, as well as Patti LaBelle, who titled a Christmas album after the song. A previously unheard recording of the song by Diana Ross from 1974 was released on Motown Records' compilation album Christmas in the City in 1993.
More contemporary notable covers include Yutaka Yokokura (1988), Gloria Estefan (1993), SWV (1997), Christina Aguilera (2000), Destiny's Child (2001), Chicago (2003), Harry Connick, Jr. (2003), Aretha Franklin (2008), Spyro Gyra (2008), Cee Lo Green (2012), Lady Antebellum (2012), Pentatonix (2012), John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John (2012), Mary J. Blige (2013), Maysa featuring Will Downing (2014), The Dazz Band featuring Jerry Bell (2015), Train (2015), and The Braxtons (2015). A cover of the song by Chris Brown, recorded for the 2007 film of the same name, peaked at No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100. Covers by Seal and by American band, Train each went to No. 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart in 2015 and 2016, respectively.