Video: The Christmas Lady Lynne McNeil

Lynne McNeil has had an inspiring music career, including Tommy Hunter Show, Dal Richards Band and is the voice behind the well-loved Bell Canada series of jingles, including Are You Lonesome Tonight. Lynne is known as the Christmas Lady for her love of the holidays and her Christmas CD.

[Rob Johnston interviews Jazz Singer Lynne McNeil aka “The Christmas Lady”]

[Music]

[A man and a woman are looking at CDS] CD player

[Lynne McNeil] Now, this is, we didn’t do no rehearsal. This is everything straight. First time through.

[Music]

Under a blanket of blue,

just you and I beneath the stars,

wrapped in the arms of sweet romance,

the night is ours.

[Rob Johnston] Bring back memories?

[L.M.] Well, it does. This is such a lovely tune. These tunes are well, this is the only thing I’ve ever done that I selected all of the tunes.

I finished that in 2013. It’s a ways ago now, in 2013.

[R.J.] And this is the…

[L.M.] That’s my the first one, the Christmas Lady, yeah…

[R.J.] The one that has the credit to your dog. And this one here, what’s unique about this one?

[L.M.] Well, I always wanted to make a record with Don Thompson, because he is, I mean, they just threw away the mould. This guy can do anything. I’m just so in awe of his phenomenal musicianship and, he happens to be a very good friend of mine

[Colour photo collage on fridge with photo of Don Thompson]

[Lynne sits at her piano in the living room. Rob Johnson sits across from her.]

[R.J.] You developed the nickname or persona of…

[L.M.] “The Christmas Lady”

[R.J.] “The Christmas Lady”; How did that come up?

[L.M.] It was my very first CD called “The Christmas Lady”. It took me 7even years. I recorded five hours every Friday. It’s the one I sang 1,100 vocal tracks on. I did all the arranging, all the writing, all the playing.

I started with no sound at all. And, we have all of that sound appearing, coming from one person. But, it was difficult. It’s got that multi-tracking stuff. All those parts were very hard to sing. And, I remember, Thursday night I wouldn’t sleep at all. I’d be terrified that I wasn’t going to be up to the job of being down there for five hours the next day.

Ron Czar was the owner of the studio and my engineer. And he’d… I’d be banging up the stairs, (with my first, Holly was my first Westy and she was on the CD itself she’s named as the executive producer) and I would bang up the stairs with a sleigh bell, assorted Christmas paraphernalia, and he’d always yell, “Here comes the Christmas lady.” It seemed the obvious thing finally to call the album.

And the name has stuck. My favourite song in the whole world has always been “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”. Hugh Martin who was a pen pal of mine, by the way, wrote the tune, yeah. He, in a letter he wrote to me, said he was glad he lived long enough to have the honour of hearing someone do his tune the way I had done it.

{Music] I love you. There’s nothing to hide. It’s better than burning inside. I love you, no use to pretend. There I’ve said it again. I’ve said it now, what more can I say? Believe me, there’s just…

[Slide show of photographs showing Lynne McNeil performing on various shows.]

[L.M.] All told, I was in Dal Richards band for 48 years, at the time that I retired when I was 68 years old.

[R.J.] One of your favourite commercials you did, how did that go?

Well, and, that was an accident. I was at Manta Sound doing something else, I’ve long since forgotten what that was. Hagood (Hardy) was across the hall in another studio doing a commercial for Bell Canada. It was, and, it was a guy that he had hired, and I’m just leaving, and I said. “I’ll see you tonight, boss,” because we were working at one of the hotels around. He said he said (he always called me McNut) said “McNut,” he said, “Come in here and just put this on, so the client can hear what a woman sounds like”. And it was, what was that? “Near You”, was the first one, and then we did “Anytime” and “Are You Lonesome Tonight”.

As it turns out, it took me, what, 5 minutes. They ran it for 15 years. I made tons of money. I used to tell the audience when I was playing and singing, I said, “Ladies and gentlemen, we don’t like to flaunt egos, I said, but, I actually had a little bigger hit on this tune than Elvis’ “Are You Lonesome Tonight” because it was the Bell Telephone commercial, right!

So what is it that fascinates me? Well, if you put Christmas together with music. It’s the reason why I always… my CD player in my 23-year-old Honda doesn’t work anymore, but there was always a Christmas CD in it, always.

[Lynne gives a treat to her dog]

But I have my fifth West Highland Terrier puppy. I put my money where my mouth is, his papers read, the name to be “Christmas Eve” and it has been shortened to Chrissy K for Chris Kringle.

[Lynne sits at the piano]

It’s a feeling. There’s a, it’s all to do with when I was a kid. The snow, the lights, I don’t know what. I, I can’t explain it. I love it singly probably better than anything else.

[Snow-globe Christmas decorations]

My biological father, Jack Sedon and my mother, Norma McNeil were married on Christmas Eve, and I have to say, I didn’t know that for most of my life. It’s something I found out about in the last 20 years.

My family was not large, but they were truly delightful. They were.

[Lynne sits at the piano]

They must have a lot to do with my great love of Christmas. I don’t know how I could ever pay anybody back for that. I wish I could. If I could give a gift to the world, I’d give everybody that feeling.

[Lynne and Rob dancing slowly]

[Music: It would be so tragic if you were not here to share my dear covered with Heaven above…]