Husband and wife team, Katharine McPhee and David Foster will drop their first Christmas record, the seven track EP Christmas Songs, on November 25. And although it’s way early for holiday tunes, the couple’s version of “Jingle Bell Rock” is out now. Check it out below.
“I think I guilted David,” the American Idol alum told People magazine about why they finally recorded a record together. “I said something like, ‘It’s really crazy I’m married to the greatest producer, basically of our lifetime, and I’ve only had you record me on a few songs.’ Then he said, ‘OK, well, why don’t we just do a Christmas album?'”
The set of holiday classics is arranged with a “big band” sound. “Jingle Bell Rock” officially drops on Friday.
“We thought we would just put a couple songs out on Spotify, and then we did this seven-song EP situation and our co-manager started sending it around to a couple labels,” Katharine told People. “Before we knew it, we had a whole Christmas plan of shows and promotion.”
David Foster and Katharine McPhee – Jingle Bell Rock
“I got to make the tracks and do things the way I wanted to, then I’d have her come in and plug her vocal in,” David Added. “It was really fun. There were a couple of songs we were talking about that we didn’t know whether she could handle or not, but she handled them like a pro.”
When choosing the tracks, the couple decided to stick to the classics.
“With all of the Christmas albums I’ve done, I’ve learned that people just don’t want to hear new Christmas songs — I mean, other than Mariah [Carey],” David told People. He’s produced Christmas albums for Michael Bublé, Céline Dion, Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli, Rod Stewart and Mary J. Blige.
“I wrote a Christmas song called ‘Grown-Up Christmas List’ which we included on this album. It’s not a classic, but it’s been covered by a lot of people,” David said. “We love the classics — like ‘Frosty the Snowman’ and ‘Winter Wonderland’ — because they’re so cleverly done.”
Katharine tours with David as part of his ongoing “Hitman” tour, that also includes American Idol season 10 alum Pia Toscano. Last year, the two teamed up to don the “Banana Split” costume for The Masked Singer season 6. The finished the competition in third place.
