Ho! Ho! Ho! Here’s another trio of terrible tinselly tragedies for you, in the shape of the late actor Dan Blocker, former Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Di’Anno and our old friend ‘little’ Marcy Tigner.Dan Blocker is best remembered for his portrayal of the lovable Eric ‘Hoss’ Cartwright on the TV series Bonanza, which ran from 1959 to 1973, but was axed shortly after Dan died aged 43 of a pulmonary embolism following gall bladder surgery. Dan, who had appeared in a number of western shows – including Gunsmoke, Colt .45, The Restless Gun, Sheriff of Cochise, Cheyenne, The Rifleman, Cimarron City, Zorro, Wagon Train and Jefferson Drum before putting down roots at the Ponderosa Ranch released his version of Deck the Halls on the 1963 album Christmas on the Ponderosa. Featuring all four men in the Cartwright family, this cute little timepiece has since been reissued on CD.
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a decent fright, and nothing in the world of bad records is quite as frightening as the original devil doll Little Marcy, here performing her unique version of the Rosemary Clooney classic Suzy Snowflake from one of the earliest Little Marcy albums Christmas With Marcy.Finally, Paul Di’Anno’s soulless rendering of the Bing Crosby classic White Christmas comes from the dreadful (and dreadfully misnamed: ‘featuring Denny Laine from Wings’) 1994 album Metal Christmas. I know we kind of ‘did’ heavy metal Christmas last year, but I couldn’t let the season pass without offing this turd up.
Enjoy!