John Legend has released a beautiful cover of ‘Happy Christmas (War is Over)’, which was initially released by John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir in 1971.
Produced by Raphael Saadiq and recorded at Blakeslee Studio in North Hollywood, CA, the cover is available to stream and purchase exclusively on Amazon Music and features additional vocals by John’s wife Chrissy Teigen and their daughter Luna.
The song also includes harmonies from the children’s choir of the The Fernando Pullum Community Arts Center. The non-profit organisation provides quality quality performing arts instruction to at-risk youth and help them build self-esteem, develop civic responsibility, and achieve academic success.
Speaking about the cover, John said: “Recording this song was such an inspiration, and I got to include my wife and my daughter in the process. We all came together to sing a beautiful song that needs to be heard, and I’m thrilled for my fans to be able to hear it on Amazon Music. In their original version, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were speaking to that desire for peace, and I think it’s a good message for us right now.”
Dan McCarroll, global head of Amazon Originals for Amazon Music, added: “Amazon Music is the biggest destination for holiday music, and we love working with artists from all genres to create unique, original recordings during the season for our customers. We saw a tremendous opportunity to work with John to bring a new take on this classic song to life, and the end result speaks for itself. We’re thrilled to kick off the holidays with such a wonderful song, exclusively for our customers.”
John’s cover follows on from the release of his Christmas album, A Legendary Christmas: The Deluxe Edition. The album includes a reimagined version of ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ featuring Kelly Clarkson which removes some of the song’s problematic lyrics.
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