But David Bowie wasn’t exactly dusting down his festive knitwear and humming Jingle Bells when a collaboration with the legendary US singer on his yuletide television show was first mooted.
Instead, Bowie’s mum insisted he take up the offer, as she was such a Bing fan. So if it wasn’t for Peggy Jones, (David' Mum) the Christmas classic Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy might never has been recorded.
Bing’s daughter Mary says: “David wasn’t going to do the show and his mum said, ‘No, you HAVE to work with Bing Crosby!’"She was a fan. She was like, ‘You have do this’.”
When David Bowie joined Bing Crosby in London’s Elstree Studios to film a duet for one of the crooner’s trademark Christmas specials, 1977’s Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas, it was as unlikely a pairing as anyone could have dreamed up. Singing a medley of Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy, however, the two vocal titans created a seasonal classic that lives on as one of the best Christmas songs of all time. With Bowie also taking the opportunity to film a performance of his anthemic song “Heroes” for the broadcast, he also added some unexpected art-rock edge to Crosby’s traditional yuletide fare.
This is the full story behind David Bowie and Bring Crosby’s Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy duet, and why an entirely new Christmas song had to be written in order to make it happen.
