Dee Snider and HALESTORM‘s Lzzy Hale have teamed up for their thoroughly rock ‘n roll rendition of the Snider-penned holiday classic “The Magic Of Christmas Day”. This version features lots of bells, rowdy riffs, and the two iconic vocalists playing off one another for an unforgettable offering. This festive and fiery duet is sure to find itself on repeat on the Christmas playlists of rockers, rollers, and headbangers everywhere this holiday season.
“Originally written and recorded as a Christmas gift for my wife Suzette with no plan for commercial release, years later ‘The Magic Of Christmas Day (God Bless Us Everyone)’ was discovered and recorded by Celine Dion for her holiday record ‘These Are Special Times’, which went on to become the biggest selling holiday album in history — and is the reason we refer to her as ‘Saint Celine‘ in my house. When it was recently suggested that I should finally record this song myself, I knew I needed to bring in a young powerhouse vocalist to not only duet with me, but light a Yuletide fire under my ass! I only knew of one rock vocalist who could deliver on all those fronts, and she did in spades: the incredible Lzzy Hale of HALESTORM!”
Hale weighs in, saying: “If you’re ever in your life gonna go full-on, all-gas, no-brakes ‘Christmas Cheer,’ you do it Dee Snider-style. I was so honored to get the call from Dee on his holiday classic ‘The Magic Of Christmas Day’. After exchanging a few very affectionate ‘f@&k yous’ as we rediscovered our respect and admiration for each other’s talent, the final recording produced by the legendary Jeff Pilson is insanely epic. Thank you so much to everyone for having me. And considering we will ALL be experiencing a very different holiday season in 2020, I hope that this song brings you joy and puts a smile on your face. God bless us everyone!”
This past August, Snider said during an appearance on the “Behind The Vinyl” podcast that he was recording a new version of “The Magic Of Christmas Day” with ex-NIGHTWISH frontwoman Tarja Turunen.
Dion reportedly heard “God Bless Us Everyone” from a sound engineer and wanted to record it for her first Christmas album, 1998’s “These Are Special Times”. Snider gave his blessing, but he asked that nobody reveal his identity, because he feared Dion would change her mind if she discovered the man behind the tune was a controversial rocker. The song, retitled “The Magic Of Christmas Day (God Bless Us Everyone)”, went on to sell 10 million copies worldwide. The album credit reads D. Snider.
The next year, Dion and Rosie O’Donnell redid the song as a duet on Rosie‘s Christmas album and opened O’Donnell‘s Christmas special on ABC with it.
The song will be available at all DSPs on November 13 via BFD/The Orchard.
