One of my favorite Holliday movies is White Christmas staring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen. The song “White Christmas” was written by Irving Berlin for the 1942 Musical “Holiday Inn” (another one of my favorite movies) but became popular by Bing Crosby in 1942. In 1954 it was the featured song in the classic movie … “White Christmas” and again sung by Bing Crosby. However, in 1954 the Drifters, with Clyde McPhatter singing lead and Bill Pinkney singing bass, was released and soon became my favorite version of the classic song. Which brings me to the question …”what do Bill, Fred and Johnny all have in common?” … White Christmas. Well years later White Christmas appeared on our Christmas CD called Good Christmas Tonight by yours truly Johnny Angel and the Halos. Trying to pay tribute to our favorite version by Bill Pinkney and Clyde McPhatter of the Drifters, we invited our childhood friend, Fred “Blue Moon” Johnson of the Marcels to sing the bass part of the song. We performed it many times together over the coming years … fast forward to 1998 and the concert we did for the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. Bill Pinkney and Charlie Thomas of the Drifters were being inducted and were to make an appearance at the show. During rehearsals for the show, Bill asked me and my partner “Bubba” if we wanted to sing with him and Charlie. Well, we said it would be an honor to sing with Bill and Charlie and one of the songs they were going to sing was “White Christmas”! I was about to sing my favorite Christmas Song with the original Bassman of the Drifters, one of the few times that I have ever been nervous on stage. The picture above is from the concert with Bill and I sharing the lead and Bubba and Charlie singing the harmonies. The photo below is from the recording studio with our friend, Fred Johnson of the Marcels, who appeared on our Christmas album … and yes we did “White Christmas” with Fred singing the Bass part. Unfortunately, I/We, Johnny Angel and the Halos will not be doing our Christmas Show this year due to mine and Bubba’s health issues. I will be making an appearance at the Benedum Theater in a few weeks singing a song for the Yinzer Christmas Show. Tis’ the Season! Oh, and by the way, I’m sure one of the many Pittsburgh musical guests will be singing… “White Christmas”!