For years, Kathie Lee Gifford held down one of the most sought-after jobs in television: morning talk show host. She has spent a quarter-century of her life as one: three years on The Morning Show, local to New York, 12 years when that show went national as Live With Regis and Kathie Lee, and ten years co-hosting Today's fourth hour. This has brought Gifford a huge amount of fame and money, but it also brought her the opportunity to do her heart's desire: to sing professionally. She's released albums, sang in commercials, even co-wrote a Broadway musical (which she didn't star in, but don't think she didn't want to). However, I'm sure to her chagrin, all of that is overshadowed by her talk show work.
One of the opportunities that hosting Live brought her in the 90s was a series of Christmas specials in which she could show off her pipes. There was no Regis, no Gelman, just her, her voice, and her special guests, who, at least in 1997's Kathie Lee: We Need a Little Christmas, she would proceed to interview, just like if she was a talk show host.
It opens with her belting the title song with a bunch of moppets (billed as The Broadway Kids, though the cast list of this from IMDB doesn't identify anyone who has actually gone on to fame). After the credits, she brings out her first guest, Kenny Rogers, for a brief interview before Kenny gets to sing one Kathie Lee-free song. After she sings "White Christmas", she introduces Christian singer Michael W. Smith, who sings "Emmanuel" (which Amy Grant had sang on Christmas in Washington in 1985), and gospel singer CeCe Winans, who also gets a brief interview before she sings "O Holy Night"
This being Gifford's special, of course she's going to sing a lot, including a duet with Rogers on "Mary Did You Know?" and a couple of solo numbers backed up by the Broadway Kids. The fact it's her special is why there is a lot more time devoted to her song stylings than to those of her three professional musician guests (including one of the greatest country stars ever) combined. While Winans gets another solo number, and Smith gets to perform a lengthy instrumental, Rogers's second number has to be a duet with Gifford on "Mary Did You Know?" Indeed, for a network special, there's a great amount of emphasis on Gifford's Christian faith. No "Happy Holidays" here!
Watching the special, it's easy to understand why her singing career has never really taken off. She does have a solid voice, but she's also relentlessly bombastic, like a less subtle Celine Dion. If she toned it down, maybe she'd be fine, but she is constantly singing like she wants to make sure the people in the building across the street can hear her. It grows tiresome.
Watching Kathie Lee: We Need a Little Christmas, I have to wonder how her annual specials attracted enough fans for CBS to keep bringing her back for several years straight. I'm certainly not the audience, but obviously there were enough Kathie Lee superfans out there to make these worthwhile. There just weren't enough of them to allow her to have a full-time musical career.
Next time: 2 sleeps till we discuss a brand new special
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