The original ’90s Mouseketeers are revealing some personal holiday memories as they reunite to release a new holiday album, Why? Because It’s Christmas.
A portion of the LP’s gross proceeds benefits MusiCares®, The Brave of Heart Fund and the Cast Member Pantry.
Artists featuring on the album include “En Vogue” star Rhona Bennett, “Steven Universe”s Deedee Magno Hall and “The Voice” star Tony Lucca.
Nikki DeLoach (Hallmark Channel, MTV’s “Awkward”), Dale Godboldo (“The People v OJ Simpson”), Chasen Hampton (Hollywood Record’s “The Party”), Tasha Danner (“Portlandia”), David Kater (“Miss Saigon”, “Gnome Alone”), Lindsey Alley, Jason “Blain” Carson, Jennifer McGill, Mylin Brooks-Stoddard, Raquel “Roque” Herring, Nita Young, Jason Minor, TJ Fantini, and Marc Worden (Voice of Iron Man/Tony Stark, “Star Trek: TNG”) also star on the LP.
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As the countdown to Christmas nears, Chasen Hampton reveals how he was surprised with a trip to Disney World by his grandmother on Christmas morning when he was six years old. Dale Godboldo received the “box of his dreams” he thought his parents could not afford, in it was a GI Joe Aircraft Carrier he begged for. And Jennifer McGill still has the collection of Christmas ornaments she and her mother collected on her travels around the world as a member of the “Mickey Mouse Club”.
Deedee Magno Hall adds of her own special memory, “16 years ago, a few months before Christmas 2004, I asked my doctor to write down the sex of my unborn child on a piece of paper. He scribbled something down, then quickly folded it and stuck it into an envelope I provided. When I got home, I put it in a box, wrapped it and kept it safe until Christmas Eve when I gave it to my husband to open as a gift to us both… the moment we found out we were going to be parents of a baby boy!”
“When I think of Christmas, I think of family, food, twinkling lights, decorations, last minute shopping, late night gift wrapping, holiday music and the reason for the season, the birth of Jesus. That is why I chose to sing ‘Birthday of a King’ for our MMC Christmas album. To be honest, I had never heard the song before, but the moment I did, I knew that I wanted to honour the King of all kings with this song.”
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Rhona Bennett gushes, “If I were to talk about a Christmas memory, it’s probably what I just discussed with my mom the other day. It’s how my sister and I used to get up and instead of unwrapping gifts, we would just come down to things already assembled. I remember being so excited about what we would see when I would turn the corner. A very vivid thought is seeing this huge doll house that my dad put together for me one Christmas and the Cabbage Patch Kids underneath the tree.”
“Christmas is a very special time for me. Hopefully, you’re able to pull some really special moments for yourself and I hope that this album can be a part of Christmas for you this time and moving forward. I hope you enjoy it.”
Tony Lucca shares, “Christmas was always like this great equalizer for the year that preceded it. If it had been a great year, then Christmas somehow seemed to emphasize that. If it was a more challenging year, kinda like the one we’re all itching to get past now, well then Christmas wound up being more of a salve and a chance to reflect on the silver linings of all that transpired in the months prior.”
“As a husband and now father, Christmas has become so much more than gifts and decorations. Fortunately, it has grown increasingly more and more about gratitude, a time of year to truly take stock in all that we have. Isn’t it amazing how that list grows increasingly with smaller and smaller things?”
