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Michael Bublé Made Magic Happen When He Sang "White Christmas" with Bing Crosby
With a bit fancy technology, The Voice Coach magically appeared in Bing Crosby's 1971 NBC Christmas special.
In 2012, Michael Bublé created something magical when he hosted his NBC Christmas special, Home for the Holidays. Not only did he have an adorable chat with Sesame Street’s Elmo about Santa, he also performed a duet of “White Christmas” with the late Bing Crosby.
During his special, The Voice Coach performed his song “Home” with Blake Shelton, sang “Winter Wonderland” with Rod Stewart, and joined Carly Rae Jepsen for a duet of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” And although Crosby passed away in 1977, Bublé managed to share a special performance with the King of Christmas over three decades later.
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Read on to revisit the moment Bublé sang “White Christmas” with Crosby, courtesy of modern technology, and find out why the holiday song holds such a special place in the Canadian singer’s heart.
Michael Bublé and Bing Crosby magically sang "White Christmas" together
During Bublé’s 2012 NBC Christmas special, The Voice Season 26 winning Coach shared that he’s been listening to Crosby’s White Christmas album for as long as he can remember.
“I’ve been thinking about my favorite Christmas memories,” he shared with the audience. “The earliest I can recall was sitting with my mom and dad in the house and playing Christmas records. Not Christmas records, no, one Christmas record. It was Bing Crosby’s White Christmas.”
Bublé said he loved the record so much, his parents would “spin” it all year long. “Now, that same record is still playing in our house, and my parents haven’t had a turntable since about 1983,” he added. “They love it and so do I.”
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Bublé then gestured over to an old-timey television to share some archival footage from his idol’s 1971 NBC Christmas special, Bing Crosby and the Sounds of Christmas.
“About 25 years ago, Mr. Irving Berlin strung together a clutch of words and music that have become sort of a special sound of Christmas to a lot of people,” Crosby says in the old footage just before Bublé enters the frame and the two share a hilarious exchange, thanks to the magic of CGI.
“Excuse me, sorry Mr. Crosby. I don’t want to interrupt one of my heroes, but I was just wondering if maybe we could sing ‘White Christmas’ together,” Bublé asks.
“No,” Crosby bluntly replies.
“Oh, I didn’t expect that answer. OK as you were saying,” Bublé responds before pleading his case one more time. “You know, it’s one of my favorite Christmas songs and I was just talking about it…”
Crosby proceeds to tell Bublé there’s “not a chance” they’ll perform together and to “forget it,” though he eventually relents.
“See Mr. Crosby, this is my Christmas special,” Bublé says. “I promised my mom I would be singing with you and I have the technology, but I will let you go first.”
Seconds later, the two smile and begin to sing a duet of “White Christmas.” Bublé finished the performance on his own on stage, dedicating it to Crosby. “That’s for you, Bing,” he said. “Thanks so much for being part of this Christmas special.”
Michael Bublé has been singing “White Christmas” since he was a little boy
During a 2009 interview on Oprah, Bublé’s mother, Amber Santagà, shared that she truly realized her son would be the star he is today when he was a 13-year-old boy singing “White Christmas” with his siblings.
“We were driving in the car, it was Christmas, and my three kids were singing in the backseat, they were singing ‘White Christmas,’” she recalled, adding that “all of the sudden” her son blew her away as he sang the lyrics, “May your days be merry and bright.”
“We just went, ‘What the hell?’” Santagà remembered of the moment.
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Since then, Bublé has sung “White Christmas” many times over the years. He released a duet with Shania Twain in 2011. He’s also performed “White Christmas” with Kelly Pickler and Kelly Rowland. His own jazzy cover — featured on his deluxe special edition Christmas album — was released with a very festive claymation style music video.
Bublé has said that putting out memorable Christmas music, both covers of classic and original songs, is something he takes seriously. As he shared in a 2024 interview with The Tennessean in 2024, “As a performer who follows in the footprints of performers like Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, being able to create iconic Christmas music [is a part of my job].”
