Marc Martel continues to carve out for himself a place amid the Christmas-artist Pantheon with his latest offering of holiday music, The Christmas Collection, Vol. II. In 2019, the golden-voiced singer-songwriter and Freddie Mercury vocal twin, released what was obviously the first of at least two compilations of his holiday works: The Christmas

Marc Martel continues to carve out for himself a place amid the Christmas-artist Pantheon with his latest offering of holiday music, The Christmas Collection, Vol. II. In 2019, the golden-voiced singer-songwriter and Freddie Mercury vocal twin, released what was obviously the first of at least two compilations of his holiday works: The Christmas Collection. Just 3 years later, he satisfies our yuletide musical cravings with a highly foreshadowed 18-track follow-up, containing all of his Christmas recordings since 2020, plus 5 brand new ones including Stevie Wonder’s “What Christmas Means To Me,” Chuck Berry’s classic “Run Run Rudolph,” a searingly groovy rendition of “The Grinch,” the cheerful “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year,” and Andrew Peterson’s haunting “Labor Of Love,” which depicts the bittersweet agony Mary underwent in the birth of Jesus.

The new album is chock-full of amazing duets with artists like Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Arnel Pineda (Journey), blues guitar legend Joe Bonamassa, Leigh Nash (Sixpence None The Richer), Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Reese Wynans (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble), and rock guitar powerhouse Jared James Nichols. While Martel has always taken a don’t-fix-what-ain’t-broke approach to his arrangements — keeping as a prime directive the listener’s ability to sing along — each recording brings a thoughtfully surprising twist to classics, whether teamed up with producers like Ben Shive (Andrew Peterson, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith), Warren Huart (Aeorsmith, The Fray, Ace Frehley), Greg Collins (U2, Gwen Stefani, Kiss) or self-producing. Despite having recorded many of the world’s most popular Christmas songs early on in his now over 40-song journey, Martel has managed to make each new release more interesting than the last, while throwing in some lesser-known gems into his repertoire. If you’re already a fan of Martel, this one is a no-brainer. If you’re new to this music and just appreciate great singing, ditto.

Marc Martel, an artist who has fostered a steadily increasing presence in the realm of holiday music, has released his latest offering of Christmas favorites. An album four years in the making, The Christmas Collection features an all-star cast of collaborators (Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Jason Gray, Buddy Greene, Plumb, Scott Mulvahill, and Ron

Marc Martel, an artist who has fostered a steadily increasing presence in the realm of holiday music, has released his latest offering of Christmas favorites. An album four years in the making, The Christmas Collection features an all-star cast of collaborators (Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Jason Gray, Buddy Greene, Plumb, Scott Mulvahill, and Ron Block of Alison Krauss & Union Station), some of whom have graced the top of the Christmas charts on multiple occasions themselves.

This 21-track project includes Martel’s four AC Billboard Top 10s: “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas”, “What Child Is This?”, “O Come, All Ye Faithful”, along with his majestic rendition of “The First Noel.” And brand new for Christmas 2019, Martel has teamed up with two of his own music heroes, Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith, for a fresh take on “Silver Bells.” The rest of this comprehensive mix of sentimental classics and yuletide hymns beckons the listener on an expertly-paced journey from cozy fireside, to lively annual get-togethers, to the quiet hillsides of Bethlehem, covering an extremely satisfying gamut of all that is the most wonderful time of the year.

Track Listing:

1. It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas (feat. Plumb)
2. Silver Bells (feat. Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith) 3. The Christmas Song (feat. Scott Mullvahill)
3. All I Want For Christmas Is You 5. Christmastime Is Here 6. O Come All Ye Faithful (feat. Jason Gray)
4. What Child Is This? (feat. Ron Block of Alison Krauss & Union Station)
5. Mary, Did You Know? (feat. Buddy Greene)
6. Ave Maria 10. The First Noel 11. How Many Kings (feat. Downhere) 12. Little Drummer Boy 13. The Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s “Messiah”
7. Noisy Day 15. Silent Night 16. In The Bleak Midwinter 17. O Little Town of Bethlehem 18. O Come, Emmanuel 19. O Holy Night
8. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
9. How Many Kings (Reboot)

In 2011 a video Marc Martel created as an audition for Roger Taylor’s own Queen tribute act caught the world by surprise, and made him a viral household sensation. The short two-minute raw performance, seen by over 21 million on YouTube, was enough to thrust him onto the world stage, earning him not only the lead vocalist spot for the official

In 2011 a video Marc Martel created as an audition for Roger Taylor’s own Queen tribute act caught the world by surprise, and made him a viral household sensation. The short two-minute raw performance, seen by over 21 million on YouTube, was enough to thrust him onto the world stage, earning him not only the lead vocalist spot for the official Queen tribute show for 5 years, but also brought invitations to perform on the Ellen Degeneres Show, American Idol, at Abbey Road, national television commercials, video games, and appearances with the Boston Pops Symphony Orchestra.

Although Martel’s vocal prowess first made news nearly a decade ago, his worldwide audience, video views, and fanbase numbers have exploded, since Queen’s resurgence from the biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody." Martel has performed for hundreds of thousands of people over the last 9 years, and has played in over 35 countries, across 5 continents. In late 2018, he uploaded another raw performance of a Queen song, the behemoth “Bohemian Rhapsody,” only this time in its entirety, with the added challenge of accompanying himself on piano. The video was originally titled “Bohemian Rhapsody - One Take” to highlight the lack of any video edits, and the sheer feat of skill and will-power required to perform the song all the way through without egregious errors. To his own surprise, the video quickly outperformed his first viral video, now having earned over 37M visits just on YouTube. “What a wild ride it has been over the last few years. Who would have thought that a simple video created in my home studio all those years ago, would have led to millions of people around the world asking me to perform Queen’s music”, muses Martel as he describes the shock he experienced when his second video blew up, earning him accolades on an ever broader spectrum, including Rolling Stone, The New York Times, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, and even CNN.

Since then, Martel has followed up “BoRap” with a slew of other Queen hits like “Killer Queen,” “I Want To Break Free,” and the aching ballad Mercury penned for his partner, Mary Austin, “Love Of My Life,” all with the “One Take” formula. All told, the view count of this series of raw Queen song performances has reached over 74M.

Martel is now offering A One-Take Rhapsody as a one-stop collection of the audio taken from all of his “one take” Queen performances, mixed and mastered for audio-only consumption. The songs were selected not just based on their popularity among Queen fans, but each song’s ability to translate well in a stripped-down, acoustic setting. A big Queen fan himself, Martel hopes that people will discover some of the band’s lesser-known material through his own interpretation of the music, such as the gorgeously haunting “You Take My Breath Away.”