Whether you love it or hate it, Christmas music is here again. Readers loved the last Girls That Create post on holiday songs by women, so here are 10 more for your playlist. Once again we’ve thrown in some soul, rock and other numbers with all the feels (Spotify link below). Enjoy and Happy Holidays!
10 More Christmas Songs Where Women Rock It
1) Christmas, Baby Please Come Home: Darlene Love
If you’ve seen the 2013 documentary 20 Feet from Stardom, you’ll recall Darlene Love (if you haven’t seen it, please do, the film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 86th Academy Awards). Love grew up listening to gospel music and began singing in her church choir at age 10. She is also an actress. For years Love brought the house down on the Late Show with David Letterman singing Christmas, Baby Please Come Home.
2) Winter Wonderland: Eurythmics
British pop duo Eurythmics gifted us this beautiful version of Winter Wonderland. Member Annie Lennox’s vocal range is contralto. She has earned the distinction of “most successful female British artist in UK music history”. Enjoy Lennox’s talents.
3) Joy: Tracey Thorn
Tracey Thorn began her musical career in the punk-pop hybrid group Stern Bops playing guitar and providing some vocal backing. She is best known as being one half of the duo Everything but the Girl. Joy is on Thorn’s fourth solo album entitled Tinsel and Lights. Listen and watch this moving video.
4) I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas: Kacey Musgraves
At age eight Kacey Musgraves began songwriting. She penned a song called “Notice Me” for her elementary school graduation and first learned to play music on the mandolin. Hear her upbeat version of I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas, which first appeared on music charts in 1953.
5) Sleigh Ride: TLC
Formed in Atlanta, Georgia, TLC sold over 85 million records worldwide and ranks as one of the greatest female groups of all time. The group consisted of Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas and the late Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes. Today Watkins and Thomas continue to perform as a duo. Enjoy Sleigh Ride in all its 90s glory.
6) My Favorite Things: The Supremes
Speaking of greatest female groups, this performance by the Supremes performing My Favorite Things deserves to be on this list. Sure, it’s not a traditional Christmas song, but this is a moment in time that captures their remarkable talent. At their peak in the mid-1960s, the Supremes rivaled the Beatles in worldwide popularity. Here is a performance from December 4, 1966.
7) Santa La Noche: Gaby Moreno
Born in Guatemala, singer-songwriter-producer Gaby Moreno moved to Los Angeles where she’s released several albums, including the holiday album Posada. It offers a dozen tracks delivered in Spanish and English in a wonderful variety of styles. Click to hear Moreno sing Santa La Noche.
8) Happy Xmas (War Is Over): Gabrielle Aplin
Gabrielle Aplin amassed a following for her acoustic music covers on YouTube before signing with a label. Her parents bought her first guitar when she was 11 years old. Here is her cover of John Lennon’s classic song.
9) Ella Fitzgerald – Frosty The Snowman
Known as “The First Lady of Song,” Ella Fitzgerald was the most popular female jazz singer in the United States for more than half a century. In 1960 she released a version of Frosty the Snowman, which has been reimagined as the following animated video. Enjoy Fitzgerald’s legendary voice.
10) O Holy Night (Live): Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman was raised by her mother, who bought the music-loving child a ukulele at age three. Chapman went on to become multi-platinum and four-time Grammy Award–winning artist. Listen to her gorgeous live performance of O Holy Night.
Click here to play the entire Christmas playlist on Spotify.
More Girls That Create posts: 10 Fabulous Christmas Songs Where Women Rock It
