Heavenly Christmas

Heavenly Christmas is American singer Jackie Evancho's first full-length Christmas album, and her fourth album overall. It was released when she was eleven years old. This album contains ten tracks and was produced by Rob Mounsey, with arrangements by Mounsey and Ryan Shore for Sony Music Entertainment.[1][2]

Heavenly Christmas
Studio album by
Jackie Evancho
ReleasedNovember 1, 2011 (2011-11-01)
GenreClassical crossover, Holiday
Length37:50
LabelColumbia/Syco/Sony Music Entertainment
ProducerRob Mounsey
Jackie Evancho chronology
Dream With Me
(2011)		 Heavenly Christmas
(2011)		 Songs from the Silver Screen
(2012)

The album was released on November 1, 2011, exclusively at Walmart and Walmart.com in the U.S.,[3] and at other U.S. sellers on October 16, 2012.[4] Evancho is accompanied by the Orchestra of St. Luke's and the New York Chorus of St. Cecilia, conducted by Rob Mounsey.[2] The album climbed to No. 11 on the Billboard 200 chart and peaked at No. 1 on Billboard's Classical Albums chart, No. 3 on the Holiday Albums chart and No. 9 on the Canadian Albums chart.[5]

Billboard ranked Heavenly Christmas as the No. 2 Classical album in the U.S. in 2012[6] and No. 41 on the 2012 Canadian Albums chart.[7]

Promotion

Walmart ran some brief television advertisements to promote the album in early November 2011, and Evancho released videos of three songs from the album.[8]

In December 2011, Evancho made talk show appearances on all the major television networks to promote Heavenly Christmas, singing "The First Noël" on The View[9] and The Talk,[10] and "Believe" on The Tonight Show,[11] as well as giving solo concerts in Buffalo, New York; Atlantic City, New Jersey; and Pittsburgh, in mid-December 2011.[12] Evancho sang 14 songs in each of these concert appearances, including songs from all three of her albums, mixing Christmas music with her classical crossover repertoire.[13] On this mini-tour, Evancho invited 20-year-old Canadian tenor Christopher Dallo, who had beaten her in the 2009 David Foster talent search contest,[14] to sing three solos, and to duet with her in The Prayer.[15][16]

Evancho released music videos of three songs from the album.[8]

Reception
Evancho in her "Heavenly Christmas" concert at Atlantic City, December 2011, with Christopher Dallo

The album entered the Billboard Classical Albums chart at No. 1, the Holiday Albums chart at No. 3, and the Billboard 200 at No. 16, peaking at No. 11 there in its sixth week of release.[5][17] It rose to No. 9 on the Canadian Albums chart in its fifth week.[18] Allmusic's review gives the album three stars, commenting, "while the set leans hard on standard Christmas fare ... Evancho's vocals are impressive as always, and the arrangements are mostly tasteful, with only occasional moments of bombast that threaten to wash the pint-sized soprano out to sea."[19] The Salt Lake City Tribune rated the album "A-", writing: "some of us are still taken aback when we hear such a strong, womanly voice float out of an 11 year-old child. ... Her best offering is the cherubic 'Believe'."[20] The New Straits Times wrote, "She brings a certain poignancy to 'The First Noel', 'What Child Is This', 'Believe' ... and 'Walking In The Air'. ... The child’s voice is a wonder!"[21]

In its 2011 year-end charts, Billboard ranked Heavenly Christmas as the No. 4 best selling Classical Album for the year.[22] Yahoo reported that the album was the third best selling Christmas album of 2011.[23] As of January 2012, over 300,000 copies of Heavenly Christmas had been sold in the U.S.[24] Idolator.com readers chose Evancho's "Believe" as their "Favorite Christmas Song" for 2011.[25]

Beginning the 2012 Christmas season early, The Philippine Star's reporter recommended the album, praising Evancho's "crystal clear voice. ... Sweet and sentimental is her take on the standards. ... Jackie now sings with a laidback sophistication quite mature for her age. ... her singing has acquired polish and will get even better as she grows up."[26] In October 2012, the album was released by retailers other than Walmart[27] and rejoined the Billboard Holiday Albums chart at No. 9.[28] The album also rejoined the Billboard 200 chart,[29] rising to No. 62 on that chart in December 2012.[30] Billboard ranked Heavenly Christmas as the No. 2 Classical album in the U.S. in 2012[6] and No. 41 on the 2012 Canadian Albums chart.[7]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s) and arrangerLength
1."I'll Be Home for Christmas"Kim Gannon, Walter Kent and Buck Ram; arranged by Rob Mounsey3:53
2."The First Noel"Traditional; arranged by Ryan Shore4:40
3."Away in a Manger"Traditional; arranged by Ryan Shore3:16
4."Believe"Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri; arranged by Rob Mounsey4:10
5."White Christmas"Irving Berlin; arranged by Rob Mounsey3:57
6."What Child Is This"William Chatterton Dix; arranged by Ryan Shore3:30
7."O Come All Ye Faithful"Traditional; arranged by Ryan Shore3:49
8."O Little Town of Bethlehem"Lewis Redner and Phillips Brooks; arranged by Rob Mounsey4:01
9."Walking in the Air"Howard Blake; arranged by Ryan Shore3:33
10."Ding Dong Merrily on High"George Woodward; arranged by Ryan Shore3:01
Total length:37:50

Charts
Chart (2011) Peak
position
Canadian Albums Chart 9
US Billboard 200 11
US Billboard Classical Albums 1
US Billboard Holiday Albums 3
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References
  1. Shirley Halperin, Sophie Schillaci (September 1, 2011), "'America's Got Talent' Star Jackie Evancho to Release Christmas Album", The Hollywood Reporter, retrieved October 7, 2011
  2. Evancho, Jackie. Liner notes, Heavenly Christmas, November 1, 2011, Sony Music Entertainment
  3. Heavenly Christmas Archived May 3, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Jackieevancho.com, November 1, 2011, accessed October 17, 2012
  4. Hampp, Andrew. "6 Questions with Jackie Evancho", Billboard magazine, October 20, 2012, p. 34
  5. Heavenly Christmas, Billboard.com, accessed December 15, 2011
  6. "Best of 2012: Classical Albums", Prometheus Global Media, December 15, 2012
  7. "Best of 2012: Top Canadian Albums", Billboard.com, December 15, 2012
  8. "Jackie Evancho – 'Believe'", JackieEvanchoVEVO, YouTube, December 2, 2011
  9. Micco, Cindy Cusic. "Jackie Evancho Sings 'The First Noel' on ABC's The View, Then Talks Kitten for Christmas", Pine-Richland Patch, December 6, 2011
  10. Micco, Cindy Cusic. "Jackie Evancho Sings on 'The Talk,' Reconnects With AGT Judge Sharon Osbourne" Archived February 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Pine-Richland Patch, December 7, 2011
  11. Episode December 9, 2011, The Tonight Show, NBC, December 9, 2011
  12. Micco, Cindy Cusic. "Jackie Evancho Performs for Hometown Crowd" Archived April 26, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Pine-Richland Patch, December 16, 2011
  13. Micco, Cindy Cusic. "Jackie Evancho Brings Crowd to its Feet at Benedum Concert", Pine-Richland Patch, December 21, 2011; see also the theatre program for Evancho's Pittsburgh Benedum Center concert on December 20, 2011
  14. Dallo's winning performance and interview, YouTube, October 24, 2009; Evancho's runner-up performance and interview, YouTube, October 24, 2009; "David Foster and Friends Concert with Jackie Evancho and Christopher Dallo", YouTube, November 21, 2012
  15. Kanny, Mark. "Hot picks: Jackie Evancho, Greg Warren, Day of Thirds" Archived September 9, 2012, at Archive.today, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 14, 2011
  16. David Foster & Friends concert at Prudential Center. YouTube.com, accessed December 18, 2011
  17. Grein, Paul. "Week Ending Nov. 6, 2011. Albums: Bieber Beats Elvis", Yahoo! Music, Chart Watch, November 9, 2011
  18. "Canadian Albums", Billboard.com (chart dated December 17, 2011), December 8, 2011
  19. Monger, James Christopher. "Heavenly Christmas", Allmusic.com, accessed November 23, 2011
  20. Burger, David. "Hearing Christmas: It's our annual round-up of the year's holiday releases", The Salt Lake City Tribune, December 9, 2011
  21. Devan, Subhadra. "SHOWBIZ: Uplifting music for the season", New Straits Times, December 18, 2011
  22. ""Best of 2011: Classical Albums", Billboard.com, accessed December 9, 2011
  23. Grein, Paul. "Week Ending Jan. 1, 2012. Albums: She’s Back", Yahoo Chart Watch, January 4, 2012
  24. "The Nielsen Company & Billboard’s 2011 Music Industry Report". Business Wire, January 5, 2012
  25. "Your Favorite Christmas Song of 2011 Is...", Idolator.com, December 22, 2011
  26. Gil, Baby A. "Jackie Evancho sings a heavenly Christmas", The Philippine Star, September 28, 2012
  27. Hampp, Andrew. "6 Questions with Jackie Evancho", Billboard magazine, October 20, 2012, p. 34
  28. "Holiday Albums: Week of November 03, 2012", Billboard.com, accessed October 25, 2012
  29. "Week of November 10, 2012", Billboard 200, November 1, 2012
  30. "Week of December 22, 2012", Billboard 200, December 12, 2012
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