First appearance of "My Favorite Things" on a Christmas album? It wasn't Jack Jones

 

Jack Jones is often credited as the first artist to include the song "My Favorite Things" on a Christmas album, but Jones was beaten to the punch by several years by another artist: Pete King.

"My Favorite Things," from the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II musical The Sound of Music, wasn't intended to be a Christmas song at all. It contains some mentions of snowflakes and sleigh bells, though, and quickly became associated with the holiday.

The Sound of Music opened on Broadway in 1959, and that same year, the Pete King Chorale recorded an album of songs from the musical, which was titled The Sound of Music. The chorale's rendition of "My Favorite Things" was even released as a single. 

The following year, the Pete King Chorale included the song as the first cut on their 1960 Kapp Records Christmas album, Christmas Time. Kapp again released "My Favorite Things" as a single, this time with a holiday-themed picture sleeve. 

In 1961, Julie Andrews performed the song on a televised Christmas special. And then in 1964, Jack Jones recorded the version that is usually credited as the song's first appearance on a Christmas album. Within five years, the song had drifted into the Christmas category and soon appeared in mid-'60s Christmas albums by artists such as The Supremes and Kenny Burrell.

Pete King wasn't merely the first artist to include the song on a Christmas album—he also had a role in Jack Jones' recording of "My Favorite Things": King brought Jones to Kapp Records initially and arranged some of his early albums. King didn't arrange Jones' version of "My Favorite Things," though; that credit goes to Marty Manning.

The Pete King Chorale's Christmas album was a good seller and Kapp reissued it every year around the holidays in the early 1960s. The chorale's sound, if you haven't heard them, is more pop oriented than that of, say, the Robert Shaw Chorale. You can listen to the entire album in the video below.

 

King was an orchestral pop composer and arranger who was born in Greenville, Ohio, home of the famous Maid-Rite Drive-In Sandwiches shop. (King might have eaten there, because it's been open for more than 80 years!) King enjoyed about a decade of work as a bandleader, arranger, and recording artist until a stroke left him deaf and he was forced to retire from music. You can find his bandleading and arranging credits on many recordings by top-tier artists such as Doris Day, Dean Martin, and Julie London, and he has an extensive discography under his own name as well.