On December 8, 2004, NBC aired a Christmas special featuring Clay Aiken. The holiday show was an hour long and was filled with intimate performances set in a beautiful Christmas set that was put together as a beautiful family home, decorated with traditional holiday ornaments.
Clay was joined on the stage by musical superstar, Barry Manilow, Gospel singer, Yolanda Adams and actress and singer, Megan Mullally. Clay’s good friend and back-up singer, Quiana Parler was also a featured performer.
There was an interesting twist in the flow of the show. Instead of just showing the final taping, the producers showed some of the backstage workings of putting a show together. The clips showed the cast and crew as they buzzed about between the different parts of the program.
Among the beautiful Christmas decoration, friends and family were seated on the stage to add to the family feel.
Highlights of the program included “Christmas Waltz, “Merry Christmas With Love,” and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. Another favorite part of the show was when the performers talked about some of their unusual gifts.
In the finale, Clay was joined by Barry Manilow and Yolanda Adam as they sang a stirring rendition of “Because It’s Christmas.”
This Christmas special was unique in that it focused on the music and had no skits or jokes. And the idea of having some of the audience members on the stage gave the impression of a big Christmas Party.
Clay was credited as an Executive Producer of the show. A DVD of the program was available and was certified Gold by the RIAA in December, 2005.
I really enjoyed watching this special again.
What I love about it, is that "A Clay Aiken Christmas"…is just that. It was a show all about Christmas. I find that nowadays…artists put on a Christmas show, with a few seasonal songs, and then they promote their new music….It's all about promotion.
This was a lovely Christmas show…love the music, and loved all the guests as well….
That was a great Christmas Show. I made sure I bought the DVD, so I could enjoy it every Christmas Season. I thought it was put together very well. I also enjoyed the entertainers Barry Manilow and Yolanda Adams. Clay was very young then, but he had great maturity in this show. Thank you for putting up the video's again.
Thanks for posting this. I enjoy watching every year. Clay sounded wonderful as well as his guests. It really gets me into the Christmas spririt 🙂