New York, NY (Top40 Charts) One of the most successful, iconic and revered artists in pop music history,
Annie Lennox - with over 83 million albums sold - is in the spotlight once again. Today
Annie Lennox releases a digitally remastered version of her sixth solo album, A Christmas Cornucopia - a collection of inspired interpretations of traditional festive songs, rounded out by a Lennox composition, "Universal Child."
The 2020 re-issue of A Christmas Cornucopia, released via Island Records/Universal Music, to mark its 10 year anniversary, features brand new, previously unreleased track, "Dido's Lament", a new tracklisting, and new artwork (across all formats - vinyl, CD and digital).
Says Lennox: "I'm absolutely delighted to be releasing the 10th Anniversary of A Christmas Cornucopia. 2020 has been an unprecedented year around the world… The carols on this album represent continuum - harking back to a time before modern technology, climate emergency, global pandemics, pollution, forest destruction, species extinction and all the challenges our world must urgently deal with in terms of crisis in sustainability. I hope this recording will at least offer some comfort and nostalgia, but also an awareness that political leaders, religious leaders and everyone around the world must face up to the question of how many more Christmases we have left to spend on this blighted earth."
"Dido's Lament" - written by Henry Purcell in the 17th century and arranged by
Annie Lennox and Mike
Stevens - references the tragic love story of Dido and Aeneas as documented in Virgil's legendary epic poem, The Aeneid, from the 1st century BC. It was released as the lead single from the album, with accompanying music video on 10th November.
All proceeds earned from Annie's original composition on the album, "Universal Child", will be paid to The
Annie Lennox Foundation. The
Annie Lennox Foundation raises money for various charitable projects, primarily those supporting and educating women and children in Africa and people with HIV/Hepatitis C in Scotland.
The music on A Christmas Cornucopia was mostly played by Lennox, in collaboration with co producer Mike Stevens, and originally recorded in his southwest London studio - at the bottom of his garden in 2010. But to achieve the resonance and vibrancy that were integral to Lennox's ideas for these re-energized reboots, the pair also worked with a 30-piece orchestra at Pinewood Studios. And they travelled further afield too: to South Africa, to record with the African Children's Choir, a remarkable organization with which impassioned campaigner and activist Lennox has long had a relationship.
A Christmas Cornucopia is far from a saccharine packaged selection box. As befits its title, it offers an abundant track listing drawn from British, French and German traditions covering the well-known alongside more un
trodden ground. It's broad spectrum encompasses a wide range of narratives and emotions - from joyful and celebratory thorough melancholic and haunting to poignant and timely. On "Lullay Lullay", for example, Lennox draws direct links between the Nativity and the plight of Africa's child soldiers.
Vibrant but vintage, classic and contemporary, glorious but with a polemical edge,
Annie Lennox's A Christmas Cornucopia is no ordinary collection of seasonal songs.
A Christmas Cornucopia - 2020 Re-issue Tracklisting [LP]:
A-Side
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
The First Noel
Il Est Ne Le Divin Enfant
See Amid the Winters Snow
Silent Night
Universal Child
B-Side
Angels From the Realms of Glory
The Holly and the Ivy
As Joseph Was a Walking
Oh
Little Town of Bethlehem
Lullay Lullay
In the Bleak Midwinter
Dido's Lament
A Christmas Cornucopia - 2020 Re-issue Tracklisting [CD]:
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
The First Noel
Il Est Ne Le Divin Enfant
See Amid the Winters Snow
Silent Night
Universal Child
Dido's Lament
Angels From the Realms of Glory
The Holly and the Ivy
As Joseph Was a Walking
Oh
Little Town of Bethlehem
In the Bleak Midwinter
Lullay Lullay
A Christmas Cornucopia - 2020 Re-issue Tracklisting [Digital]:
Universal Child
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Silent Night
Angels From The Realms of Glory
The First Noel
Il Est Ne Le Divin Enfant
Dido's Lament
The Holly and the Ivy
Oh
Little Town Of Bethlehem
In The Bleak Midwinter
See Amid The Winter's Snow
Lullay Lullay
As Joseph Was A Walking
Celebrated and named as one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone Magazine,
Annie Lennox's iconic musical career spans over four decades, going back to the early 80's when the internationally renowned 'Eurythmics' was formed in collaboration with Dave Stewart.
In the early 90's she went on to establish an acclaimed solo career.
Over the years she has won eight Brit Awards, including Best British Female Artist six times - four Ivor Novello Awards and 26 ASCAPs.
In the US she has been awarded four Grammy Awards, with eleven nominations and three MTV Awards.
She was awarded both a Golden
Globe and an Academy Award, as well as a Billboard Century Award; the highest accolade from Billboard magazine.
Having sold over 83 million albums worldwide, she is the first woman to be recognised with an ASCAP Fellowship.
Over the years, she has worked on behalf of countless organisations, including Oxfam, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, The British Red Cross and Comic Relief.
Working with UNAIDS as a
Goodwill Ambassador, she became well known for her work as a tireless HIV/AIDS activist and advocate.
She has been a Special
Envoy for the Scottish Parliament and the City of London, receiving the Woman of Peace Award at the 2009 World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. In 2011 she was named an Officer of the Order of the British
Empire (OBE) in recognition of her humanitarian work.
She is a Royal Academician and the first female Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University in her native Scotland, where she was also honoured with the prestigious Livingstone Medal in 2016. Her work in the visual arts includes an exhibition launched at the
Victoria and Albert Museum, London; 'The House of
Annie Lennox' - and more recently in 2019 - a conceptual installation at MASS MoCA, entitled "Now I Let You Go"...
Annie Lennox is the original founder of The Circle : A non - profit organisation of women working together to achieve equality for women and girls in a fairer world.
