My Christmas (Andrea Bocelli album)
My Christmas is the thirteenth studio album and first Christmas album released by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.
The album is a compilation of seasonal holiday favorites, mainly in English, with a few selections in Italian, German, and French, produced by multiple Grammy Award winner David Foster, containing duets with Mary J. Blige, Natalie Cole, Reba McEntire, Katherine Jenkins, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and the Muppets. It also includes "God Bless Us Everyone", the only original song of the album, which Bocelli recorded for the closing of the 2009 film, A Christmas Carol.
A Spanish version of the album, called Mi Navidad, was released November 23, 2009, and a PBS Christmas special of the album, filmed in the Kodak Theatre, was released on DVD December 8, 2010, after airing on PBS stations nationwide.
With over 2.2 million copies sold in the last two months of 2009 in the United States alone, the album was the best-selling holiday album of the year, and one of the best-selling albums of 2009, with worldwide sales exceeding 5 million copies.
As of November 2014, My Christmas has sold over 3,010,000 copies in the United States, making it one of the best-selling holiday albums in the United States, since Nielsen SoundScan tracking music sales tracking began in 1991.
Release and promotion
2009
The Andrea Bocelli & David Foster Christmas Special, the PBS special of the album, first aired on Thanksgiving night in the United States, and continued to be broadcast in the United States and Canada throughout the month of December. In late November, the program was broadcast in Mexico and in the UK; it later aired, December 15 and 25, on Italia 1, in Italy, December 19, on TVE2 and TROS, in Spain and the Netherlands, and Christmas Eve, on vtm and RTL-TVI, in Belgium and Luxembourg.On November 3, during the World Premiere of Disney's A Christmas Carol, in Leicester Square, London, following the switching on of the annual Oxford Street and Regent Street Christmas lights, Bocelli led the St Paul's Cathedral Choir, and more than 14,000 people across the capital, as they broke the Official Guinness World Record for the biggest ever Christmas carol sing-along, singing "Silent Night". He completed his performance in Leicester Square with, "God Bless Us Everyone", the closing song of the movie, which he provided the vocals for in English, Italian and Spanish. He returned to the United Kingdom, December 16, for an appearance on The One Show, broadcast live by BBC One, and on The Alan Titchmarsh Show which aired December 18, on ITV1.
On November 21, a segment of Leute Heute, a German tabloid-program on ZDF, was about My Christmas and Bocelli's meeting in Rome with Pope Benedict XVI and 250 other artists, an event which was broadcast live earlier that day in Italy, by Rai Uno. Bocelli was also joined by the Piccolo Coro dell'Antoniano, in his home in Forte dei Marmi, where they sang "Caro Gesù Bambino", a song from My Christmas which was originally recorded by the choir in 1960. Rai Uno also broadcast the performance later that day, during the Zecchino d'Oro Festival. The following day, Bocelli was among Fabio Fazio's guests, on his popular Italian talk-show, Che tempo che fa, broadcast on Rai Tre. During the program Bocelli talked about his album and performed "The Lord's Prayer", "White Christmas", and "Silent Night". It was also announced that Bocelli will return to the show, December 20, where he will give a live concert of My Christmas. Bocelli also took part in the annual 2009 José Carreras Gala, on December 17, where he sang Adeste Fideles, before singing "White Christmas" with José Carreras for the very first time, which was broadcast live, by Das Erste, in Germany. He then returning to Italy, for a concert in the Upper Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi, on December 19, which was broadcast directly after the Urbi et Orbi blessing of Pope Benedict XVI, December 25, on Rai Uno.
In North America, Bocelli gave 6 concerts. On November 28, he performed in the BankAtlantic Center, in Sunrise, Florida. He later performed in the Air Canada Centre, in Toronto, Canada, in the Izod Center, in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the William Saroyan Theatre, in Fresno, California,, in the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, and finally in the Honda Center, in Anaheim, California, on December 3, 5, 8, 12, and 13. His last three arena concerts alone grossed a total of over 5.6 million dollars, placing him third on Billboards week's Hot Tours ranking, behind the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Il Divo, who both held over 5 times more concerts worldwide, compared to Bocelli's three in the United States, explaining their better showings.
In the United States, Bocelli made a number of high-profile TV appearances. He first performed "White Christmas" at the 83rd annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, broadcast live on NBC, November 26. He then performed the song again, November 30, during The Today Show also live. His appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show during her Holiday Music Extravaganza, where he sang "What Child Is This", with Mary J. Blige, and later closed the show with Adeste Fideles, was also aired the same day, and was later rebroadcast on December 23. Bocelli also sang "Adeste Fideles" and was interviewed by Barbara Walters and Joy Behar on The View, which aired December 2, on ABC. On December 8, he performed "Jingle Bells" with the Muppets on NBC's The Jay Leno Show. He also performed a number of songs from the album, including "The Christmas Song" with Natalie Cole, during a dinner at David Foster's mansion in Malibu, which was feathered on The Dr. Phil Show, on December 10. Bocelli also performed "White Christmas" and "Silent Night", on Larry King Live's and Fox & Friends' holiday specials, broadcast December 23 on CNN, and December 19, 24 and 25 on Fox News. Bocelli's rendition of "Silent Night" was chosen as the Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week, for December 1, 2009. Starbucks also offered My Christmas for sale, in their stores.
In Brazil, following the success of the South American leg of the Incanto tour, were over 100,000 people attended his free concert at the São Paulo's "Parque Indipendencia", earlier in the year, it was announced that Bocelli would hold another Open-Air, entrance free, concert in Florianópolis, on December 28, where a crowd of about a million people was expected to attend. However, for financial and political reasons, the concert was later canceled on short notice, along with all the other events scheduled for Christmas in the city.
2010
As part of the 2010 leg of the My Christmas Tour, Bocelli gave two concerts in the two largest indoor arenas of the United Kingdom, The O2 Arena, in London, and the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester, and a concert in the largest indoor arena in Ireland, The O2, in Dublin, in late November 2010. His sold-out concert at the O2 in London, was the most attended show in the venue's history, with 16,500 people attending the event.In early December, Bocelli gave 6 concerts in the United States. He will perform in Madison Square Garden, in New York City, Prudential Center, in Newark, New Jersey, TD Garden, in Boston, Toyota Center, in Houston, Staples Center, in Los Angeles, and the MGM Grand's Garden Arena, in the Las Vegas Strip. The Toyota Center concert, in Houston, was attended by former president George Bush Sr. and first lady Barbara Bush.
Bocelli also toke part in the Christmas in Washington special on December 12, in the presence of president Barack Obama and the first lady. On December 19, Bocelli gave a concert, conducted by Claudio Scimone, in the Italian Senate. The concert was attended by Italy's top officials including Italy's president Giorgio Napolitano, Renato Schifani, the president of the Italian Senate, Gianfranco Fini, the president of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and Tarcisio Bertone, Cardinal Secretary of State of the Holy See.
2011
Bocelli gave 5 concerts in the United States in December 2011, in support of both My Christmas and his then new live album, Concerto: One Night in Central Park. Bocelli also performed White Christmas in an appearance at Good Morning America, airing December 22.Critical reception
The album received generally positive reviews.Matt Collar of AllMusic gave the album a positive review and praised it as "not only a warm and inviting holiday album, but also a superb classical crossover entry worthy of Bocelli's discography."
Commercial performance
In the United States, despite being released in early November, My Christmas was the fifth best-selling album of 2009, and second, only to Susan Boyle's debut album I Dreamed A Dream, in the lists of best-selling albums released in 2009, best-selling albums during the 2009 holiday season, and best-selling 2009 Internet Albums. It was also the best-selling holiday album of 2009, with just under 2.21 million units sold in only nine weeks, over four times as many as the year's second seasonal seller, Sting's If on a Winter's Night..., and nearly as many copies as the rest of the top ten seasonal best-sellers combined. It is only the second Christmas album, in Nielsen SoundScan history, to wind up in the year-end top five, the other being Josh Groban's Noël, the best-selling album of 2007. By November 2014, My Christmas had sold 3.01 million copies in the US, making it one of the best-selling holiday album in the United States since Nielsen SoundScan music sales tracking began in 1991.My Christmas was also the sixth best-selling album of 2009, fifth best-selling album released in 2009, second best-selling album during the holiday season, and best-selling holiday album, in Canada, with 228,000 units sold in the country, 222,000 of which were physical sales, making it also the sixth best-physical seller of the year. Bocelli was also the sixth and tenth best-selling artist of the year, in the United States and Canada respectively, with 2,668,000 and 264,000 units of his albums sold in both countries, in 2009.
My Christmas sold over 5 million copies worldwide, in 2009 alone, despite being released internationally for a little over a month during the year, making it the 10th best selling album in 2009, worldwide.