New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Shore Fire Media) Carole King's first ever holiday album, A Holiday Carole, will be released by Hear Music/Concord
Music Group on November 1st, 2011. Produced by her daughter
Louise Goffin, the album's 12 songs artfully blend the sacred and the secular with an eclectic mix of well-chosen standards and newly-written material. Goffin co-wrote three original tracks on the album, including the Latin-flavored "Christmas in Paradise," on which she collaborated with Grammy-winners
George Noriega and Jodi Marr, the sublime Goffin/Marr composition "Christmas In The Air," and the deeply moving "New Year's Day," co-written with renowned songsmith Guy Chambers.
"As an experienced producer," King remembers, "Louise's first question to me as her artist was, 'What songs do you like?'" After compiling a list of favorites, Goffin went on the hunt for more unusual tracks, coming up with tunes like William Bell & Booker T. Jones' Stax classic "Every Day Will Be Like A Holiday." King puts her own indelible stamp on the music, lending it a special seasonal flair.
For King, the album's emotional highlight is undoubtedly "Chanukah Prayer." "Louise had the brilliant idea to take the Chanukah prayer that I learned from my parents, and they learned from their parents, and back through generations," she explains. "She said 'I want to record you singing that and I'm going to build a track around it.'" The result is a warm, jazz-inflected tune that brings together three generations on vocals: King, her daughter, and her grandson.
In a career with innumerable highlights, King has reached new pinnacles in recent years including 2010's bestselling Troubadour Reunion album and tour with James Taylor, American Idol devoting an entire episode to her music this season, and a forthcoming memoir due out in 2012.
A Holiday Carole - Tracklisting:
1. My Favorite Things (Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers)
2. Carol of the Bells (Mykola Leontovych)
3. Sleigh Ride (Leroy Anderson and Mitchell Paris)
4. Christmas Paradise (Louise Goffin, George Noriega and Jodi Marr)
5. Every Day Will Be Like A Holiday (William Bell and Booker T. Jones)
6. Chanukah Prayer (Traditional, Arrangement by Louise Goffin and Lee Curreri)
7. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin)
8. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm (Irving Berlin)
9. Christmas In The Air (Louise Goffin and Jodi Marr)
10. Do You Hear What I Hear (Gloria Shayne and Noel Regney)
11. This Christmas (Donny Hathaway and Nadine McKinnor)
12. New Year's Day (Louise Goffin and Guy Chambers)
Carole King is arguably the most successful and revered female songwriter in pop music history. To date, more than 400 Carole King compositions have been recorded by more than 1000 artists, resulting in 100 hit singles - many reaching No 1. She was the first woman to win four GRAMMY Awards in one year, and her landmark 1971 album Tapestry received a Diamond Award from the RIAA for sales of more than 10 million units in the U.S., with more than 25 million units sold worldwide.
