La Diva and Two Tenors Celebrate the Holidays
5
By Beaux Luis
The 90s were as successful and prolific for Diana Ross as the 70s when she was at the top of her game in so many ways. While garnering pop chart success with studio albums like "The Force Behind the Power" and "Take Me Higher", which was actually released after this album, Diana stretched creatively with concept projects. It came as a wonderful surprise that in 1992-93, she had two separate television specials, "Christmas in Vienna" for PBS and "Stolen Moments" for Pay Per View. Each proved to be quite lucrative for Diana.
But here, after she had recorded her first Christmas album, the multi-platinum, "Merry Christmas" with The Supremes in 1965, there would be back to back holiday albums released in the 90s. "Christmas in Vienna" continued to solidify her global superstar status with the album being Top 10 in Europe and Asia and also the American Holiday chart. If one was expecting La Ross to tackle an aria, you may walk away disappointed. Instead, Diana sings holiday classics like my favorite, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" and shrewdly took her own, "If We Hold on Together" and transformed it to fit this project and clocked a Top 10 single in the meantime. The song was already a bonafide smash in Asia from "Land Before Time". She included it on her 1991 studio album, "The Force Behind the Power" and it became a hit in Europe after this special aired in 1992 (giving her 5 smashes from that album in the UK alone).
She is joined by Jose Carrerras and Placido Domingo on a long, joyous medley of all holiday classics. But the stunner of the album, has to be her triumphant take on "Ave Maria" which safely placed her in another stratosphere as a Diva!