By REBECCA BILLS
ANTHONY Callea is spending his birthday at Westfield Knox this Friday after releasing his first Christmas album, This is Christmas.
Scheduled to perform on Channel Nine’s The Today Show in the morning, Mr Callea will fly straight to Melbourne for his Westfield Knox performance.
“It’s really a bit of a tease only coming home for one night but I’ll be back a week later for a decent stay,” he said.
“I’m actually really excited about spending my birthday at Knox when my record company asked me the date I would like to do it I thought it would be really nice if I could spend my birthday at home.
“I haven’t been home for so long and I am so looking forward to it.”
Mr Callea said that for a singer, one of the most exciting times is when they get to the point of releasing a Christmas album.
“If it was up to me, I would have Christmas six months of the year and this is a really exciting Christmas not just because of my album, but it is my 10th consecutive year at Carols by Candlelight,” he said.
“In this album I really wanted to the recreate my performances from the Carols so I brought in the 55 piece orchestra and even my partner Tim (Cambell) who performed Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas with me.
“You do get Goosebumps when you record an album like this, it’s the best way to do it – especially being able to do alongside my long-time friend John Foreman.”
This is Christmas is a follow up to Mr Callea’s first album with ABC music, Thirsty, which was released in April this year.
Mr Callea said it has been a very busy year for him with releasing his two albums and touring with Grease – The Musical and he said he was looking forward to 2014.
“I started the year opening for Mariah Carey and it’s been pretty much non-stop ever since,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to, once Grease has finished next year, concentrating on my live work and will get back in the studio when I am ready.”
Anthony Callea is performing live at Westfield Knox on Friday 13 December at 4pm outside the front of The Coffee Club.
Westfield Knox is at 425 Burwood Highway, Wantirna South.
