“Give Love on Christmas Day” debuted on a Jackson 5 album around 1970. The cut was no ‘Up on the Housetop,’ but it has endured. In fact, 5’s Motown sound has inspired many a group to gospel heights. So this song has many aspiring children.
New Edition capture that Jackson 5 mellow richness in a near perfect echo to the original.
The Temptations go stratospherically falsetto with their version. Piercing.
SWV sing it like children, not beautiful adult women.
More recently, Johnny Gill has gone solo with the song. All the need for love, quintuple the soul.
The same year Ledisi leaned hard into the R+B of the song and gave us another present (just this side of disco).
And then Yolanda Adams did it. She’s done better. Hers is more pop than soul.
Slightly to the East are further interpretations (KathNiel, Sarah Geronimo, Danny Espanto), and oh about another dozen or so folks of all colors–everyone with an impressive vocal range wants to nail this slider.
But, let’s get back to basics with the original: Jackson 5’s “Give Love on Christmas Day.” (No directions on how to wrap it.)
