Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives Was An American Musician And Actor With A Career That Spanned More Than Six Decades. Ives Began His Career As An Itinerant Singer And Guitarist Eventually Launching His Own Radio Show The Wayfaring Stranger Which Popularized Traditional Folk Songs.
Ives Began His Career As An Itinerant Singer And Guitarist Eventually Launching His Own Radio Show The Wayfaring Stranger Which Popularized Traditional Folk Songs. In 1942 He Appeared In Irving Berlin's This Is The Army And Became A Major Star Of CBS Radio. In The 1960s He Successfully Crossed Over Into Country Music Recording Hits Such As "A Little Bitty Tear" And "Funny Way Of Laughin'". Ives Was Also A Popular Film Actor Through The Late 1940s And '50s. His Film Roles Included Parts In So Dear To My Heart 1948 And Cat On A Hot Tin Roof 1958 As Well As The Role Of Rufus Hannassey In The Big Country 1958 For Which He Won An Academy Award For Best Supporting Actor.
Ives Is Often Associated With The Christmas Season. He Did Voice-Over Work As Sam The Snowman Narrator Of The Classic 1964 Christmas Television Special Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. Ives Also Worked On The Special's Soundtrack Including The Songs "A Holly Jolly Christmas" And "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" Both Of Which Continue To Chart Annually On The Billboard Holiday Charts Into The 2020s. . User-Contributed Text Is Available Under The Creative Commons By-SA License Additional Terms May Apply.
Frogtoon Music - Song Info: A Holly Jolly Christmas
"A Holly Jolly Christmas" Also Called "Have A Holly Jolly Christmas" Is A Christmas Song Written By Johnny Marks And Most Famously Performed By Burl Ives. The Song Has Since Become One Of The Top 25 Most-Performed "holiday" Songs Written By ASCAP Members For The First Five Years Of The 21st Century. The Song Was Re-Recorded By Ives And Released In 1964 As A Single And Later Featured The Following Year In His 1965 Holiday Album Have A Holly Jolly Christmas. This Version Of The Song Has A Somewhat Slower Arrangement Than The Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Version And Features A Twelve-String Guitar Solo Introduction It Is This Version That Has Since Become The More Commonly Heard Rendition On Radio. This Song Mentions Mistletoe In The Bridge Where The Singer Asks The Younger Lover To "Kiss Her Once For Me". The Song Features A Mixed-Gender Chorus Whose Repeated "Ding-Dong" Imitation Of Christmas Bells Are Heard In The Outro Of The Song Before It Fades Out. The Song's Enduring Popularity Is Evidenced By Its Reaching No. 30 On The Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart In 1998 As Well As No. 21 On The US Country Digital Songs Chart And No. 5 On The Holiday 100 Chart In 2011. The Song Charted On The Billboard Hot 100 For The First Time In 2017 After Rules On Chart Eligibility For Older Songs Had Been Relaxed Several Years Before And Reached A Peak Of No. 38. On The Week Ending December 8 2018 The Song Re-Entered The Hot 100 Chart. It Reached No. 10 On The Week Ending January 5 2019. On The Week Ending January 4 2020 It Reached A New Peak Of No. 4. With This Feat Ives Now Holds The Record For The Longest Break Between Hot 100 Top Tens As He Returned To This Minimum Ranking After 56 Years Seven Months And Two Weeks Since His Previous Top 10 Hit And At 109 Years After Birth Surpassing Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World" Which Reached The Top 40 When Armstrong Would Have Been 86 Years Old As The Oldest Artist Living Or Deceased To Have A Top 40 Hit. As Of December 2019 Burl Ives' Recording Has Sold 664 000 Copies In The United States Since Becoming Available For Download In The Digital Era.