During the holidays, I find myself listening to singers I don’t hear much during the rest of the year: Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Andy Williams, even little Brenda Lee. I’ve always felt conflicted about Karen Carpenter, who is on the radio a lot around Christmas. She had a beautiful, pure, warm voice but the Carpenters’ songs were generally too mawkish for my tastes. I think that’s my position on Celine Dionne as well. Am I missing something here?
