Mariah Carey, James Brown and Boyz II Men are just a few of the artists that have turned iconic Christmas songs into R&B jams. R&B music, which stands for Rhythm and Blues, is a well known genre of music that is popular among today’s artists. Using slower beats and lower ranges of their vocal instrument, R&B artists have made many hits off of the classic Christmas songs.

 “All I Want for Christmas” is one of the most memorable Christmas songs Mariah Carey has sung; she performs it almost every year since she released her original song in 1994. She has also made a Christmas album that includes spin-offs of classic Christmas songs. This album includes, “Silent Night” and “Joy to the World.”  Being known for her vocal range and R&B music, Mariah Carey climbs the charts every year with her song, “All I Want For Christmas Is You”.

 R&B Christmas music even dates back to the time period when James Brown was at his peak. His songs “Merry Christmas Baby” and “Soulful Christmas” are just two out of the dozens that he recorded. He released an entire album dedicated to Christmas music in 1966. He was one of the many artists who started the era of spin-off Christmas songs. Little did they know that R&B Christmas music will continue to grow, especially in the 90s.

 During the 90s many R&B/ Hip Hop groups released albums dedicated to their adaptations of  Christmas music. One of the groups, Boyz II Men, also released albums for the holiday.  Singing songs like “Silent Night” and “Let It Snow,” they turned those classic songs into tunes that R&B fans loved. Junior Zee Graham said, “I love how the Boyz II Men version of Silent Night’ is; it adds so much soul into the song.” In addition, 90s girl R&B/ Hip Hop group TLC also sang the classic song “All I want for Christmas” and sang “Sleigh Ride” just for the holiday.

 Many other artists to this day still release Christmas albums. Those artists include Andra Day, who is a rising American artist that has taken her skills in R&B and soul music to Christmas music. Her song, “Someday at Christmas” which includes the legendary Stevie Wonder has been used in the a commercial for Apple.  This shows that there is always room for someone to add their own adaptations to classic genre of Christmas music.