On this day in 1977, Bing Crosby and David Bowie recorded their classic “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy” duet on Studio D at ATV Elstree Studios.
It was made for Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas, a 1970s television special in which Bing and his family spend Christmas in an English country house, joined by the likes of Stanley Baxter, Ron Moody and Twiggy. Bowie turns up because he supposedly lives down the road and wants to use the piano… of course!
Bowie had been invited specifically to duet with Crosby, but wasn’t keen when presented with The Little Drummer Boy, so Ian Fraser, Larry Grossman and Buz Kohan quickly wrote Peace on Earth as a counterpoint for him — virtually on the studio floor and in about an hour.
What I particularly like is Crosby’s daughter Mary’s recollection of the two men sitting down at the piano to rehearse. Bowie was apparently a little nervous at first, but as they played together, Crosby realised what an extraordinary musician Bowie was — and Bowie realised the same about Crosby. She remembered seeing them both visibly relax. Then, as she put it, “magic was made.”.
Crosby died just five weeks later, before the special was broadcast. The duet was eventually released as a single in 1982, reaching No. 3 in the UK and becoming a Christmas classic.
A rather lovely little bit of Christmas magic, made in Borehamwood.