SIX INTERNATIONAL POP STARS REFLECT ON THE MAGIC OF THEIR HOLIDAYS PAST AND PRESENT.
JOYS
OF THE
SEASON
What makes your holidays special? Baking
grandma’s famous Christmas bread, hiding presents from the kids, listening to your holiday favorites over and over? Superstars Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Babyface, Harry Connick Jr. and Charlotte Church will share their holiday memories and perform some of their favorite songs on the upcoming CBS television special, And So This Is Christmas. Here’s a glimpse at what makes their hearts sing with the joy of the season.RICKY
martin
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Growing up in Puerto Rico, it’s all about music when it comes to Christmas. We have a celebration called parranda where a group of friends go from house to house with music and instruments, saying, ‘give us something to eat. Give us something to drink. Join us.’ Then we go on to the next house. It could be five in the morning and we’ll still be dancing and singing. That’s the only time of year you can do this without going to jail. It’s something that we’re been celebrating for maybe 500 or 600 years. It’s part of Puerto Rico. When I think back to the holidays – besides the fact that December 24 is my birthday – it was all joy. It was a very peaceful time for this kid. The holidays will always give me some sort of serenity. I think it’s very important to keep the child within you very close. And keep it as a priority. Running from one place to another. I keep my feet on the ground by going back to that little kid when he was six years old, and I ask him, ‘Are you proud of who you’ve become?’ |
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NO MATTER |
THIS CANADIAN CHANTEUSE ALWAYS CELEBRATES WITH A SONG-AND HER ENTIRE FAMILY.
CELINE
dion
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I’m the 14th – and last – child in my family. As a kid growing up in Charlemagne, Quebec, Christmas to me was cold, snowy, warm – full of beautiful smells, the cooking of my mom, a great ambience, lots of music, lots of gifts, lots of love and lots of happiness. I remember one year, my mom clapped her hands and said, ‘Okay everybody, time to sing.’ She was probably so tired of seeing us around the house and it was the only thing that could capture our attention and make us stop being monkeys for half an hour. So, we sat around her on the floor – all the children – and started to sing together. We didn’t sing only Christmas songs, but whatever was hot on the radio at that time. It’s a very good memory for me. We still sing together every Christmas. The whole family is looking forward to Christmas, because it’s the only day during the year when we can see everyone at the same time. We’re up to a hundred and some... I’ve stopped counting. When you’re part of a big family, you don’t see everybody as much as you would like. And especially if you’re in show business, much of the time you’re away from the people you love most. I look forward to this day every year, when I can take them in my arms, tell them I love them and think of them, even though I don’t see them as much as I want to. |
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HARRY
connick jr.
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At Christmastime I’m surrounded by my family. That’s the most important thing in the world for me. My daughters are just at the age where they can appreciate Santa Claus, so it’s a wonderful time for my wife Jill and me. It’s just great to watch them get excited about what’s under the tree. I never thought I could experience that level of happiness, not since I was a kid at Christmastime. I remember when I was 12 or 13, I came downstairs and there was a Yamaha grand piano. That was the greatest thing in the world to me then. But to have children and see them enjoy Christmas... to see such unadulterated happiness and joy like that... man, I love it. |
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FOR THIS NEW ORLEANSBORN STAR, SEEING HIS LITTLE GIRLS GIDDY WITH EXCITEMENT IS THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL.
GLORIA
estefan
EVEN IN THE HEAT OF A MIAMI SUMMER, THE QUEEN OF LATIN POP FINDS THE TRUE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS.
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" |
I had always wanted to write a Christmas song, so my friend, songwriter Diane Warren, and I sat down with the battered up guitar I got when I was 10 years old. I told her about the theme I had in my head, which is the fact that as we get older and become adults, we lose some of the magic of Christmas. We become jaded – the commercialism really drives you crazy – plus it’s a hectic time of the year, and you just go beserk. But when I had my first child, my son Nayib, I experienced this renewed joy. Looking at Christmas through his eyes was the most spectacular thing that happened. It was a renewal of everything Christmas meant to me as a child. Diane said, ‘Oh, I like that. Christmas through your eyes.’ So, we sat down in my backyard, under the burning hot July sun in Miami and wrote ‘Christmas Through Your Eyes.’ For me, it’ll always be a very special gift to him. |
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CHARLOTTE
church
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My whole family always goes to midnight mass on Christmas Eve. We go to St. Mary’s Church, where I was baptized, which is right around the corner from where we live (in Cardiff, the capital of Wales). The church is absolutely packed, like it is everywhere else in the world, with people standing in the aisles and crowding the pillars and it’s a really nice atmosphere. At Christmastime, the church has a nativity scene that is huge and absolutely beautiful. Last year I sang ‘Silent Night’ at midnight at St. Mary’s and I’m hoping to sing again this year. I also like ‘Hack the Herald Angels Sing,’ which I sang for the Pope at the Vatican. And I love ‘O Holy Night.’ I don’t like ‘Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ because every single Christmas I used to get a bad cold and my nose turned bright red. All the boys in my class teased me, singing that song! |
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THE 13-YEAR |
BABY
face
BRINGING HIS WHOLE FAMILY TOGETHER FOR THE HOLIDAYS GAVE THIS MUSIC IMPRESARIO MEMORIES TO CHERISH FOREVER.
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I grew up in Indianapolis, on the north side. We lived in a suburban area with small homes, but it was nice. We had the silver Christmas tree, you know, the one you get out of the box. I guess you could call us black middle class. The first time you have success, you get your mama the house, the car, the jewelry. You want to make sure she'’ taken care of. The first thing |
I did was let her retire. I’ve moved her a couple of times in Indianapolis, and then to Las Vegas. But the most meaningful Christmas gift I ever got her wasn’t really material: I took the whole family – all five of my brothers and their wives and kids, and my wife Tracey’s family – to Hawaii so we could all experience Christmas together at the same time. That memory’s far nicer than a house or a car. |
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WHERE DO YOU FIND CHRISTMAS IN JULY? SIMPLE. JUST ASK ORNAMENT MOGUL CHRISTOPFER RADKO.
BACK STAGE WITH
mr. christmasWhen Ricky, Celine, Harry, Gloria, Charlotte and Babyface sing their holiday favorites on CBS’s And So This Is Christmas this December, the signs of the season will be all around – streets will sparkle, trees will glisten and familiar tunes will fill the air as we make the mad dash for those last-minute gifts. It will feel like Christmastime because, well, it will be Christmastime.
But when these stars taped their segments, the only thing that was in the air was the record heat and humidity of the summer. It’s pretty tough to get in the spirit of Christmas when all you can think about is getting into the air conditioning.
Luckily, the show’s producers found a way to make it feel like Christmas in July. They sent some of the stars to a place where every day really is Christmas: the New York City showroom of ornament designer Christopher Radko.
Radko’s signature ornaments, collected by celebrities, fill the 5,000-square-foot space, which looks more like a Victorian home than a wholesale display. After walking through a grand hallway, with checkered-granite floors and a frosted chandelier, you enter the living room where a garland of peppermint twists and gingerbread men line the fireplace. In the corner stands a glittering seven-foot tall Christmas tree, brimming with hundreds of individually crafted ornaments.
"The celebrities who came here to be interviewed for the television special immediately felt at home," says the 39-year-old Radko. "They opened up right away about some of the most personal childhood memories. During one of the breaks, Gloria spontaneously started singing a Spanish Christmas carol her mother taught her when she was a child," he recalls. "And Charlotte was running around here like a kid in a candy store. Her eyes lit up as soon as she walked in."
Radko’s ornaments have that effect on people – to the tune of $50 million in annual sales. In addition to satisfying the needs of this growing group of fanatical collectors with more than 5,000 designs, he has decorated the set of The Today Show, Gracie Mansion in New York City and the home of the Vice President. His hand-painted tempered-glass ornaments have appeared at Rockefeller Center and in the famous holiday windows of Saks Fifth Avenue. This year Radko will dress up the revamped Radio City Music Hall.
"To me, the holiday is all about openheartedness, and how you decorate your home says so much about how you want to share your environment with your family and friends," says Radko, settling into a high-backed leather chair in his showroom. "My ornaments are about heartfelt caring, and my hope is that people will connect with the spirit contained in each ornament we make."
If these six pop stars are any indication, that spirit comes through loud and clear.
TargetTheFamily, Holiday 1999
©
All rights reserved by TargetTheFamilyEin spezieller Dank an Amanda Warnock. Du bist ein Schatz! Vielen Dank, dass Du mir das Magazin geschickt hast! Du bist immer in meinen Gedanken und in meinem Herzen!!! Ich werde immer dankbar für unsere Freundschaft sein!
Special yhanks to Amanda Warnock. You are a treasure! Many thanks that You have sent me the magazine! You are always in my thoughts and in my heart!!! I will be always gratefully for our friendship!
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