A Very Special Christmas (album) explained

A Very Special Christmas
Type:	Compilation album
Artist:	various artists
Cover:	A Very Special Christmas.jpg
Caption:	Cover art by Keith Haring
Released:	October 12, 1987^[1]
Genre:	Christmas music, Children's music
Length:	50:57 (Original version) 51:11 (Revised version)
Label:	A&M
Next Title:	A Very Special Christmas 2
Next Year:	1992

A Very Special Christmas is the first in the A Very Special Christmas series of Christmas-themed compilation albums produced to benefit the Special Olympics. The album was released on October 12, 1987, and production was overseen by Jimmy Iovine for A&M Records. A Very Special Christmas has raised millions of dollars for the Special Olympics.^[2] The cover artwork was designed by Keith Haring.

On January 16, 1998, the album was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipment of four million copies in the United States.^[3]

As of November 2014, A Very Special Christmas is the 19th best-selling Christmas/holiday album in the United States during the SoundScan era of music sales tracking (March 1991 – present), having sold 2,520,000 copies according to SoundScan.^[4]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Artist	Producer(s)	Time
1.	"Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"				3:22
2.	"Winter Wonderland"				3:36
3.	"Do You Hear What I Hear?"			Iovine	3:33
4.	"Merry Christmas Baby"				4:53
5.	"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"				4:42
6.	"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"				2:39
7.	"Gabriel's Message"			Sting, Pete Smith	2:14
8.	"Christmas in Hollis"				3:00
9.	"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"			Iovine	2:21
10.	"Santa Baby"	Joan Javits, Philip Springer and Tony Springer		Iovine	2:35
11.	"The Little Drummer Boy"	Katherine Kennicott Davis, Harry Simeone and Henry Onorati			3:32
12.	"Run Rudolph Run"	Johnny Marks and Marvin Brodie		Adams	2:43
13.	"Back Door Santa"	Clarence Carter and Marcus Daniel			3:54
14.	"The Coventry Carol"				3:25
15.	"Silent Night"			Iovine, Bittan	4:37

• First pressings of the album contain a spoken introduction on The Pretenders' "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", presumably by a child. This introduction was later omitted, shortening the track by about 13 seconds.
• Starting in 1992, "Back Door Santa" was replaced by another Bon Jovi song, "I Wish Everyday Could Be Like Christmas", which originally appeared as a B-side on their single "Keep the Faith".

Personnel

According to the liner notes:^[5]

Musicians

• Bryan Adams – guitar (12)
• Kenny Aronoff – drums (6)
• Roy Bittan – piano (1, 15)
• Rupert Black – keyboards (5)
• Johnny Blitz – keyboards (12)
• Don Brewer – drums (11)
• Rosemary Butler – backing vocals (11)
• Chris Campbell – bass guitar (11)
• John Cascella – accordion (6)
• Sharon Celani – backing vocals (15)
• Clarence Clemons – saxophone (1)
• Larry Crane – guitar (6)
• Laura Creamer – backing vocals (11)
• Blair Cunningham – drums (5)
• Mickey Curry – drums (12)
• David Ervin – keyboards (11)
• Richard Feldman – drum programming and keyboards (2)
• David Freeman – guitar (1)
• Craig Frost – piano (11)
• Lisa Germano – fiddle (6)
• Donny Gerrard – backing vocals (11)
• Ms. Bobbye Hall – percussion (3)
• Richie Hayward – drums (3)
• Dorian Holley – backing vocals (11)
• Jimmy Johnson – bass guitar (3)
• Steve Jordan – drums (1)
• Charles Judge – synthesizer and string arrangements (3)
• Michael Landau – guitar (1)
• Annie Lennox – keyboards (2)
• Nils Lofgren – guitar (11)
• Darlene Love – backing vocals (3, 9)
• Steve Lukather – guitar (3)
• Robbie McIntosh – guitar (5)
• Coby Myers – bass guitar (6)
• Robbie Nevil – backing vocals (15)
• Pat Peterson – backing vocals (6)
• Darryl Phinnessee – backing vocals (11)
• Alto Reed – saxophone (11)
• Andrea Robinson – backing vocals (11)
• Keith Scott – additional guitar and backing vocal (12)
• T. M. Stevens – bass guitar (1, 5)
• Dave Stewart – drum programming (2)
• Crystal Taliefero – backing vocals (6), percussion (11)
• Dave Taylor – bass guitar (12)
• John Townsend – backing vocals (11)
• John Van Tongeren – keyboards (2)
• Rick Vito – guitar (11)
• Mike Wanchic – guitar (6)
• Waddy Wachtel – guitar (15)
• Jai Winding – piano (3)
• Edna Wright Perry – backing vocals (3)

Technical personnel

• Tom Banghart – assistant engineer (2)
• Jon Bon Jovi – arranger (13)
• Steve Boyer – assistant engineer (5)
• Joe Chiccarelli – mixing (11)
• Bob Clearmountain – mixing (1, 3-6, 9, 12, 13)
• Mark DeSisto – assistant engineer (11), additional engineering
• Peter Droll – assistant engineer (10)
• Steve Ett – engineer and mixing (8)
• Richard Feldman – engineer (2)
• John Fryer – engineer (14)
• Humberto Gatica – mixing (2, 15)
• Danny Grisgby – additional engineering
• Rob Jacobs – assistant engineer (1, 10), additional engineering
• Bruce Lampcov – engineer (5), mixing (5)
• David Leonard – engineer (6)
• Scott Litt – engineer (3, 5, 9)
• Jeremy Lubbock – arranger (10)
• Bob Ludwig – original mastering (4)
• Stephen Marcussen – mastering
• Kooster McAllister – engineer (13)
• Mark McKenna – assistant engineer (1, 3, 11), additional engineering
• Michael Morongell – assistant engineer (1)
• Alison Moyet – arranger and mixing (14)
• Dan Nash – assistant engineer (1, 15), additional engineering
• Peter Oxendale – arranger and mixing (14)
• Thom Panunzio – engineer (3, 9, 15)
• Toby Scott – engineer (4)
• Don Smith – engineer (1, 11)
• Pete Smith – engineer and mixing (7)
• Smudger – engineer (12)
• Roger Talkov – engineer (13)
• Richard Warren – arranger (15)
• Shelly Yakus – engineer (1, 10, 11, 15), mixing (10)
• Michael Young – engineer (13)

External links

• • How a 1987 Christmas album changed the way the holiday sounds
• A Very Special Christmas archived from Special Olympics site

Notes and References

1. http://www.averyspecialchristmas.org/albums/a-very-special-christmas-vol-1 A Very Special Christmas Vol. 1 | A Very Special Christmas
2. Book: McGee, Matt . U2: A Diary . . 2008 . 111 . 978-1-84772-108-2.
3. Web site: RIAA Searchable Database . . 2014-12-02 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140830055854/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?content_selector=gold-platinum-searchable-database . 2014-08-30 .
4. Web site: The Gifts That Keep on Giving: Biggest Radio and Album Hits of the Holidays . Billboard Staff. Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 2014-12-01. 2014-12-02.
5. A Very Special Christmas. Various Artists. 1987. A&M Records. Europe. CD booklet. 393 911-2.