Pentatonix To Present First Christmas Special To Go Alongside Third Holiday Album
On the heels of the release of their new Christmas album, NBC has announced that the a capella group, Pentatonix, will present their first ever Christmas special for the network on Wednesday, December 14. Featuring music from the album, A Pentatonix Christmas, the special will feature special guest performances by Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson. NBC says that the special will feature a couple of surprise guests to be announced at a later date.
A Pentatonix Christmas is the group’s third holiday release which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart. It includes Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” The video of the song debuted at No. 6 on Billboard’s Top Digital Songs Chart and received more than 20 million views during its first week.
The new album also includes “White Christmas” which the group recorded with the legendary group, Manhattan Transfer. The 11-song CD also includes renditions of “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” “Up On the Housetop,” “The Christmas Sing-Along,” “Coventry Carol,” “Coldest Winter,” “Good to Be Bad,” and “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays.”
Pentatonix’s five members include Mitch Grassi, Scott Hoying, Kirstin Maldonado, Avi Kaplan and Kevin “K.O.” Olusola. Mitch, Kirstin, and Scott met while attending high school in Arlington, Texas. Avi and Kevin joined the trio to compete on the third season of the NBC TV series, The Sing-Off, in 2011 where they won the title.
Although only performing for just five years now, Pentatonix have released seven albums and sold more than 3.5 million of them in the U.S. The group has won two Grammy Awards and have more than 11 million YouTube subscribers who have watched their videos about 2 billion times. Their last holiday album, That’s Christmas to Me, was certified 2x platinum.
Serving as Pentatonix’s lead vocalist, Mitch Grassi is also the group’s youngest member according to the group’s website. He was a high school senior during The Sing-Off tapings. He comes with a background in musical theater and an appreciation for underground club and electronic music.
Scott Hoying has been a songwriting pianist since he was 8-years-old. He enrolled at USC where he joined the school’s a cappella group, the SoCal voCals. Before Pentatonix, he was a CBS Star Search finalist and has sung the national anthem and “God Bless America” at numerous sports events for the Texas Rangers, Dallas Cowboys, and Dallas Mavericks.
Kirstin Maldonado has eight years of performing with Theater Arlington where she learned to sing in eight-part harmonies. Before that, she was a member of the Texas All State Choir for three years.
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Guitarist Avi Kaplan has a background in classical music. He has arranged music for both choral and a cappella. Unlike the others in the group, he is a native of California who attended Mt. San Antonia College. He was part of the all-male a cappella group, Fermata Nowhere, the first community college a cappella group to win the ICCA. International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella tournament.
Kevin Olusola comes from Owensboro, Kentucky. He is able to play the piano, cello, and saxophone. After high school, Olusola enrolled as a pre-med student at Yale University and majored in East Asian Studies. He spent 18 months in Beijing becoming fluent in Chinese. But it’s also during this time where he developed his celloboxing skills. In 2015, Kevin released his first solo album which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard Traditional Classical and Classical Crossover charts.
[Featured Image by Larry Busacc/Getty Images]
