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‘You can’t help but sing along’: celebrities’ most-loved Christmas carols


Bryn Terfel, Lucy Worsley, Isata Kanneh-Mason, Eleanor Oldroyd, Angel Blue, Charlotte Ritchie, Courtney Pine and more share their festive favourites

I recall recording this with Aled Jones for a BBC broadcast at Union Chapel in London, and there’s nothing like that special ambience and tingle-factor when you have a beautiful Christmas song like this being delivered in a church. This song is special to me because while growing up in southern California the holiday season was filled with love, laughter and good conversations with my five siblings and our parents, sitting in our living-room eating my mum’s homemade sweet potato pie. The Christmas Song creates a very special scene, with imagery of the holiday season – of Jack Frost nipping at your nose, reindeers flying, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, and that beautiful seasonal greeting we give to kids aged one to 92: “Merry Christmas!” While t he song was made famous by the great Nat King Col e, my favourite rendition of this beautiful ballad was sung by my late father, Sylvester Blue [this is the version that will be broadcast and available on BBC Sounds].

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