Tori introduces this video as follows: I recently teamed up with my friend Chris May (musician, arranger, producer, and co-author of the book, Carpenters: The Musical Legacy) on a cover of one of the Carpenters' most beloved Christmas recordings, "It's Christmas Time." After much consideration, we ultimately decided to stick to the original formula, given its beauty and simplistic nature, utilizing the beautifully penned arrangement by the late Peter Knight as a tip of the hat to Karen and Richard. We hope you enjoy it!!
Tori's collaborator on this (as well as the "Georgia on My Mind" cover) is Chris May, who co-wrote a 344-page hardcover Carpenters reference book that Richard Carpenter had a part in creating. There is (much) more on this book HERE. He gives his endorsement of this book in this short video below:
Here is Tori's cover of "Merry Christmas Darling" that she released in 2022. My hat tip to Tori supporter Joe Spiegel who provided this back story to "Merry Christmas Darling": "Frank Pooler wrote the lyrics in 1945 about his missing love. He later became a music professor at Cal State Long Beach University. He had a couple of students in his class and choir that he showed the lyrics he wrote to. The older brother Richard took it and quickly composed the music. That was in 1968. In 1970 his younger sister Karen recorded the vocal and the Carpenters released their first Christmas song as a single."
Tori has also recorded some original Christmas music. "Christmas Again" (see https://youtu.be/V7tDu9Gshds?si=7Bf3g-WT-YlPH9ci) and also "My Christmas Dreams" composed by Allan Licht (see https://youtu.be/N9h_k1vkJeo?si=ZBGg3UN_QZpwOFIk).
Regarding "Christmas Again," Tori writes I had so much fun recording this song in collaboration with the brillant Donnie Demers and Steve Eaton, who not only wrote it, but it was also produced by Steve!
I do get the strong impression that Tori loves Christmas time. Here's a short-form video that Tori did of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas":
To wrap it up, Tori sings - a cappella - some apt words for the holidays from "Sometimes" (Henry Mancini, Felice Mancini), a song that was on the Carpenters self-titled album released in 1971:
(as per usual, I am about to find mistakes in my post that I only can ever find AFTER I hit the "Send Message" button!
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Steverino