A 60 Degrees Girl Group Christmas

I have always loved Christmas music. I tend to listen to older music all year round, but when it comes to sharing music with the general public, this is the only time of year when Brenda Lee is considered cool. To combat the 60’s holiday tracks that are over-covered and overplayed, I am always searching for more obscure holiday recordings by girl groups and female vocalists that are not on radio or Spotify playlists.

When I began hosting my internet radio show 60 Degrees back in 2008, it started an annual tradition of putting together a holiday program full of female 60’s singers and girl groups, interspersed with vintage commercials and sound clips from classic holiday movies and television shows. You can listen to the Halloween show here.

East Village Radio was a pirate radio station that went legit and switched to the internet, broadcasting from a storefront in New York’s Lower East Side. This first 60 Degrees holiday show debuted on December 22, 2008, and was repeated annually throughout the shows 5-year run. By 2012, the holiday programs had gained such a following that 60 Degrees was given an uninterrupted 16-hour marathon on Christmas Day.

At the beginning of Part 2, I read a Christmas poem that I wrote about an incident from my childhood involving our tinsel-eating dog Sunshine, which has previously been posted here and also on The Good Men Project website. You can’t say I don’t recycle!

Other than my speedy vocal delivery (someone tells that guy to slow down) and some minor sound level issues, the show holds up pretty well. There are a few misstatements that I wish I could fix:

• I said that Maya Rudolph’s mother, the late great Minnie Riperton was not singing lead on The Gems tracks when she is.
• I mispronounce the Meditation Singers as “The Mediation Singers” and would add that soul singer Laura Lee was a member of the group, having replaced Della Reese in the 1950s.
• Janice Orenstein sang There’s Always Tomorrow from the Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer soundtrack.

Part 1

1. Donde Esta Santa Claus – Toni Stante
2. Gee Whiz, It’s Christmas – Carla Thomas
3. My Boyfriend’s Coming Home For Christmas – Toni Wine
4. Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day – Brenda Lee
5. White Christmas – Baby Washington
6. Snowfall – Doris Day
7. I Want A Boy For Christmas – The Del-Vetts
8. You Better Be Good, World – Shirley Ellis
9. Peace For Christmas – Gigi Parker
10. Christmas Calling – Valerie Masters
11. Christmas Time – Jan Bradley
12. All I Want For Christmas Is You – Carla Thomas
13. Christmas Is The Time To Be With Your Baby – The Orchids

14. Christmas Time Is Here Again – The Flirtations
15. O Holy Child – Dusty Springfield
16. Sleigh Ride – Darlene Love wi/ The Brian Setzer Orchestra
17. Deep in the Heart of Christmas – Darlene Love with The Brian Setzer Orchestra
18. Christmas Time For The Jews – Darlene Love
19. Xmas (Baby Please Come Home) Live 2005 – Darlene Love

Part 2

1. Wish You A Merry Christmas – Kim Weston
2. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! – The Miracles (featuring Claudette Robinson)
3. Oh Holy Night – The Supremes (featuring Florence Ballard)

4. Won’t Be Long Before Christmas – The Supremes
5. Blue Christmas – The Meditation Singers
6. Blue Holiday – Aretha Franklin
7. Love For Christmas -The Gems
8. Jing Jing A Ling – Honey & The Bees
9. Silver Bells – Rachel Sweet
10. Close Your Mouth (It’s Christmas) – The Free Design
11. The Christmas Song – Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66
12. I Don’t Intend to Spend Christmas Without You – Margo Guryan
13. Happy New Year Baby – JoAnn Campbell
14. Happy New Year Baby – The Sisters
15. January First – Peggy March
16. Happy New Year – Beverley
17. Jingle Jingle Jingle – Burl Ives
18. There’s Always Tomorrow – Janice Orenstein
19. Auld Lang Syne – Honey & the Bees