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Bryn Terfel's White Christmas with Bing Crosby

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James McLaren James McLaren | 10:45 UK time, Tuesday, 19 October 2010

It's one of the best-known Christmas singles of all time, and one of the best sellers too, but now White Christmas is getting a touch of Welsh operatic magic courtesy of Bryn Terfel.

Bryn Terfel

Bryn Terfel

Read the 91Èȱ¬ Wales news story here.

Terfel shares his record company with the late Bing Crosby and, thanks to some production wizardry, the Welsh tenor will duet with the crooner on the single. A video has already been shot for it, and bookies are offering odds of 6-1 on it being this year's Christmas Number One.

Terfel is releasing the single to promote his forthcoming album Christmas Songs, to be released by Deutsche Grammophon. The label is part of Universal Music, which owns the rights to Crosby's recording.

It is the first version of the song featuring Crosby's vocals since it was recorded for the film Holiday Inn in 1942. The single will be released on 13 December.

Terfel and Crosby are far from the first people to duet with one of them singing from beyond the mortal plane. Nat King Cole and his daughter Natalie sang Unforgettable in the 1990s, a song which, no, I have no recollection of whatsoever.

Likewise, the parent-child dynamic was replicated in 1989 by Hanks Sr and Jr of the Williams family for There's A Tear In My Beer, and yet again with Elvis and Lisa-Marie Presley on In The Ghetto in 1997.

The Beatles raided the tapes for Free As A Bird and Real Love in the 1990s, which featured John Lennon on vocals and piano. Hip hop has given us The Notorious B.I.G. and P Diddy, Eminem and Obie Trice all appearing on It Has Been Said in 2005.

Fugees warbler Lauryn Hill gave her voice to Bob Marley's Chant Down Babylon in 1999. Loony narcotics fan Billie Holiday was resurrected for a duet with Tony Bennett on God Bless This Child in 1997, 38 years after her death.

Rat-packer Dean Martin's song Ain't That A Kick In The Head featured the questionable vocal talents of actor Kevin Spacey in 2007. And in a meeting of the sublime and ridiculous, Louis Armstrong was joined by Kenny G on his iconic What A Wonderful World.

Lastly, Patsy Cline was joined by country gruff Willie Nelson in 1999 on Life's Railway To Heaven.

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