Wonderland Burlesque's The Twelve Days Before Xmas - Day Five: When a Child is Born by Johnny Mathis

Wonderland Burlesque's

The Twelve Days Before Xmas

 Day Five: 

When a Child is Born by Johnny Mathis

 

We're over half-way there, folks! Just five days to go until the big day.

Time to climb back into the Wonderland Burlesque time machine and countdown to the big day. This holiday season, the dial is set for the 1970's!

Oh, you are in for a treat, so grab a seat and buckle up.

The seventies was a decade of change, turbulence and sweetness. Nowhere is this more felt than in the breadth and depth of the music of the time. There were so many different genres being developed, evolving and seeking validation on the radio and the industry music charts, it was a virtual musical cornucopia.

So, get ready for another song of the season by one of our biggest (and not so big) stars, here, stateside, and across the pond, who made the seventies truly magical.

Next up... the gentle, velveteen sounds of holiday favorite Johnny Mathis with 1976's #1 Christmas song in the UK, When A Child Is Born.

When a Child Is Born is a Christmas song, with a melody taken from Soleado, a tune from 1974 by Ciro Dammicco. The tune was based on Dammicco's earlier tune Le rose blu, published in 1972. The English lyrics were written by Austrian composer Fred Jay as a Christmas song - but never mentions the holiday itself. The first version with the English lyrics, a minor hit, was recorded by Michael Holm in 1974. However, the best known version of the song is by Johnny Mathis, whose version was the Christmas #1 in the UK in 1976.

Entitled When a Child Is Born (Soleado), it became Johnny Mathis' sole #1 single on the UK Singles Chart, spending three weeks at the top of the chart in December of 1976, including the coveted Christmas #1 slot. In the US, it appeared in Record World during the Christmas seasons of 1976 and 1977. Later, in 1980, Mathis re-recorded the song as a duet with Gladys Knight & the Pips. This version appeared in Record World during the Christmas season of 1980, and peaked on the UK Singles Chart at #79.

Johnny Mathis - When a Child is Born