Heavenly Christmas is American singer Jackie Evancho's first full-length Christmas album, and her fourth album overall. It was released when she was eleven years old. This album contains ten tracks and was produced by Rob Mounsey, with arrangements by Mounsey and Ryan Shore for Sony Music Entertainment.Evancho, Jackie. Liner notes, Heavenly Christmas, November 1, 2011, Sony Music Entertainment
The album was released on November 1, 2011, exclusively at Walmart and Walmart.com in the U.S.,Heavenly Christmas , Jackieevancho.com, November 1, 2011, accessed October 17, 2012 and at other U.S. sellers on October 16, 2012.Hampp, Andrew. "6 Questions with Jackie Evancho", Billboard magazine, October 20, 2012, p. 34 Evancho is accompanied by the Orchestra of St. Luke's and the New York Chorus of St. Cecilia, conducted by Rob Mounsey. The album climbed to No. 11 on the Billboard 200 chart and peaked at No. 1 on Billboard's Classical Albums chart, No. 3 on the Holiday Albums chart and No. 9 on the Canadian Albums chart.[ Heavenly Christmas], Billboard.com, accessed December 15, 2011
Billboard ranked Heavenly Christmas as the No. 2 Classical album in the U.S. in 2012"Best of 2012: Classical Albums", Prometheus Global Media, December 15, 2012 and No. 41 on the 2012 Canadian Albums chart."Best of 2012: Top Canadian Albums", Billboard.com, December 15, 2012
Promotion Walmart ran some brief television advertisements to promote the album in early November 2011, and Evancho released videos of three songs from the album."Jackie Evancho – 'Believe'", JackieEvanchoVEVO, YouTube, December 2, 2011
In December 2011, Evancho made talk show appearances on all the major television networks to promote Heavenly Christmas, singing "The First Noël" on The ViewMicco, Cindy Cusic. "Jackie Evancho Sings 'The First Noel' on ABC's The View, Then Talks Kitten for Christmas", Pine-Richland Patch, December 6, 2011 and The Talk,Micco, Cindy Cusic. "Jackie Evancho Sings on 'The Talk,' Reconnects With AGT Judge Sharon Osbourne" , Pine-Richland Patch, December 7, 2011 and "Believe" on The Tonight Show,Episode December 9, 2011, The Tonight Show, NBC, December 9, 2011 as well as giving solo concerts in Buffalo, New York; Atlantic City, New Jersey; and Pittsburgh, in mid-December 2011.Micco, Cindy Cusic. "Jackie Evancho Performs for Hometown Crowd" , Pine-Richland Patch, December 16, 2011 Evancho sang 14 songs in each of these concert appearances, including songs from all three of her albums, mixing Christmas music with her classical crossover repertoire.Micco, Cindy Cusic. "Jackie Evancho Brings Crowd to its Feet at Benedum Concert", Pine-Richland Patch, December 21, 2011; see also the theatre program for Evancho's Pittsburgh Benedum Center concert on December 20, 2011 On this mini-tour, Evancho invited 20-year-old Canadian tenor Christopher Dallo, who had beaten her in the 2009 David Foster talent search contest,Dallo's winning performance and interview, YouTube, October 24, 2009; Evancho's runner-up performance and interview, YouTube, October 24, 2009; "David Foster and Friends Concert with Jackie Evancho and Christopher Dallo", YouTube, November 21, 2012 to sing three solos, and to duet with her in The Prayer.Kanny, Mark. "Hot picks: Jackie Evancho, Greg Warren, Day of Thirds" , Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 14, 2011David Foster & Friends concert at Prudential Center. YouTube.com, accessed December 18, 2011
Evancho released music videos of three songs from the album.
Reception
The album entered the Billboard Classical Albums chart at No. 1, the Holiday Albums chart at No. 3, and the Billboard 200 at No. 16, peaking at No. 11 there in its sixth week of release.Grein, Paul. "Week Ending Nov. 6, 2011. Albums: Bieber Beats Elvis", Yahoo! Music, Chart Watch, November 9, 2011 It rose to No. 9 on the Canadian Albums chart in its fifth week.[ "Canadian Albums"], Billboard.com (chart dated December 17, 2011), December 8, 2011 Allmusic's review gives the album three stars, commenting, "while the set leans hard on standard Christmas fare ... Evancho's vocals are impressive as always, and the arrangements are mostly tasteful, with only occasional moments of bombast that threaten to wash the pint-sized soprano out to sea."Monger, James Christopher. "Heavenly Christmas", Allmusic.com, accessed November 23, 2011 The Salt Lake City Tribune rated the album "A−", writing: "some of us are still taken aback when we hear such a strong, womanly voice float out of an 11 year-old child. ... Her best offering is the cherubic 'Believe'."Burger, David. "Hearing Christmas: It's our annual round-up of the year's holiday releases", The Salt Lake City Tribune, December 9, 2011 The New Straits Times wrote, "She brings a certain poignancy to 'The First Noel', 'What Child Is This', 'Believe' ... and 'Walking In The Air'. ... The child’s voice is a wonder!"Devan, Subhadra. "SHOWBIZ: Uplifting music for the season", New Straits Times, December 18, 2011
In its 2011 year-end charts, Billboard ranked Heavenly Christmas as the No. 4 best selling Classical Album for the year.""Best of 2011: Classical Albums", Billboard.com, accessed December 9, 2011 Yahoo reported that the album was the third best selling Christmas album of 2011.Grein, Paul. "Week Ending Jan. 1, 2012. Albums: She’s Back", Yahoo Chart Watch, January 4, 2012 As of January 2012, over 300,000 copies of Heavenly Christmas had been sold in the U.S."The Nielsen Company & Billboard’s 2011 Music Industry Report". Business Wire, January 5, 2012 Idolator.com readers chose Evancho's "Believe" as their "Favorite Christmas Song" for 2011., Idolator.com, December 22, 2011
Beginning the 2012 Christmas season early, The Philippine Star'''s reporter recommended the album, praising Evancho's "crystal clear voice. ... Sweet and sentimental is her take on the standards. ... Jackie now sings with a laidback sophistication quite mature for her age. ... her singing has acquired polish and will get even better as she grows up."Gil, Baby A. "Jackie Evancho sings a heavenly Christmas", The Philippine Star, September 28, 2012 In October 2012, the album was released by retailers other than WalmartHampp, Andrew. "6 Questions with Jackie Evancho", Billboard magazine, October 20, 2012, p. 34 and rejoined the Billboard Holiday Albums chart at No. 9."Holiday Albums: Week of November 03, 2012", Billboard.com, accessed October 25, 2012 The album also rejoined the Billboard 200 chart,"Week of November 10, 2012", Billboard 200, November 1, 2012 rising to No. 62 on that chart in December 2012."Week of December 22, 2012", Billboard 200, December 12, 2012 Billboard ranked Heavenly Christmas'' as the No. 2 Classical album in the U.S. in 2012 and No. 41 on the 2012 Canadian Albums chart.
Track listing
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (2011) Peakposition
Year-end charts Chart (2011) Position US Top Classical Albums (Billboard) 4 Chart (2012) Position Canadian Albums (Billboard) 41 US Billboard 200 105 US Top Classical Albums (Billboard) 2
References
External links Jackieevancho.com Jackie Evancho Heavenly Christmas Album YouTube playlist