A Very Special Christmas

The album was released in 1987, and had some of the biggest performers of the day contributing their talents to raise money for the Special Olympics. There were 15 cuts on the album, and few had an official video produced. However, I managed to find a video of each one, from 'official' to to live to fan-made, and will share them all with you tonight. I would imagine this post is going to be way too long, but I just couldn't really leave anyone out. So here are all 15 tracks from the album, in order.

The Pointer Sisters - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town



The Eurythmics - Winter Wonderland



Whitney Houston - Do You Hear What I Hear?



Bruce Springsteen - Merry Christmas Baby



The Pretenders
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas



John Cougar Mellencamp
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus



Sting - Gabriel's Message



Run-DMC - Christmas In Hollis



U2 - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)



Madonna - Santa Baby



Bob Seeger & the Silver Bullet Band
The Little Drummer Boy



Bryan Adams - Run Rudolph Run



Bon Jovi - Back Door Santa



Alison Moyet - Coventry Carol



Stevie Nicks - Silent Night



Merry Christmas!

Sister Acts - The Pointer Sisters & Sister Sledge

From the late 70s thru the eights, there were a couple of family acts - sisters actually - who spent quite a bit of time on my radio. The Pointers and the Sledges put a new spin on the family act, since mostly what had been seen were brothers. So let's party, family-style.




The Pointer Sisters were Anita, June, Ruth, and Bonnie Pointer, although Bonnie left the group to try her hand at a solo career. Hailing from Oakland, the Pointers started out in 1969 as a duo, with Bonnie and June, before making it a quartet in 72. Once they got started, they were tough to stop. I remember when they started out, combining pop and jazz styles of the 30s and 40s, but that soon gave way to pop and dance.




The Sledge family lived in Philadelphia, and were very familiar with the tradition of Philly soul and music. Kim, Debbie, Joni, and Kathy started out singing in churches throughout the city, and by 1975 had been signed and released their first album, Circle of Love. The girls worked hard and in 1979 had a banner year, scoring top spots on the charts. The continue to perform together today, though the number of girls working might vary.