DOUG JOHNSON: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.
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I'm Doug Johnson. Today on our show: seasonal music. We talk about and play songs from holiday albums released this year.
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Singer Michael Buble's record album "Christmas" is on top of Billboard magazine's top two hundred albums chart. It has been in the number one position for the past three weeks and in the top five since its release in late October.
"Christmas" will bring more good news for the Canadian singer. It is expected to become the second-best selling album of the year after "21" from Adele. "Christmas" already has sold more than one-point-five million copies.
The album is filled with traditional seasonal songs, like "Jingle Bells" and "Silent Night." But "Cold December Night" is all new and Michael Buble helped write it.
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A Warner Brothers photo of Justin Bieber handing out toys to students at Whitney Elementary School in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 16. Bieber and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" presented the students with $100,000 in toys for the holidays.
Another Canadian singer also has a successful, new holiday album. Justin Bieber released "Under the Mistletoe" on November first. The album also hit number one on Billboard's top two hundred list.
Justin Bieber recently told a reporter that he never believed in Santa Claus. He said his mother was always honest with him. But he said he never ruined the Santa magic for anyone. He kept his thoughts to himself. Real or not, the man known as Father Christmas is the subject of this Justin Bieber song.
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Zooey Deschanel and Matt Ward make up the pop duo, She and Him. Deschanel is also a well known actor. The two met each other when they performed a song together on the movie "The Go-Getter." Ward wrote the score of the film.
Merge Records and the performers are donating some of the money from the sale of the Christmas album "A Very She and Him Christmas. Sales have already brought in more than ten thousand dollars for 826 National. The non profit organization runs educational programs for children.
Here She and Him perform "Baby, It's Cold Out Outside."
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One of the most popular television shows in America also released a Christmas album this year. "Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album Volume 2" includes the show's newest performers. Damian McGinty, Lindsay Pearce and Alex Newell join in the traditional song "Do You Hear What I Hear?"
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"Seasons Greetings" is a new record album from the Broadway show "Jersey Boys." "Jersey Boys" tells about the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, a singing group that was popular in the nineteen sixties and seventies. The group was admitted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in nineteen ninety.
In nineteen sixty two, the group released "The 4 Seasons Greetings." The Jersey Boys perform some of the same songs on their new album, including "White Christmas."
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Singer/songwriter Carole King has a seasonal album out. "A Holiday Carole" is her first release in ten years. Her daughter, Louise Goffin, produced the album. She also wrote three of the songs. We leave you with one of them. "New Year's Day" is about the hope, thankfulness and new beginnings that day can bring.
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I'm Doug Johnson. This program was written and produced by Caty Weaver.
If you have a question about American life, please email us. The address is mosaic@voanews.com. We will try to answer your question on a future show.
Join us again next week for music and more on AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.