For soulful singer Ramona Collins, the holidays are all about family.
“For me, it’s just really getting a chance to hang with my family and do things. We have things that we do on an annual basis,” Collins said. “I’m not so much into buying stuff at Christmas and all that, but just getting to see people that you don’t get to see that much. It just makes it a special time.”
Contributing to a special fundraising project like “Holiday Wishes 2” has also become an annual tradition for Collins. This is her second year involved with the project.
Her contribution is a cover of “This Christmas” — though she said the song was not the first idea pitched to her.“Michael [Miller, editor in chief of Toledo Free Press] called me this year and he suggested [Joni Mitchell’s ‘River’], something to do with ice skating. And I said, ‘Michael, what else you got?’” Collins said with a laugh. “And he said, ‘Well, how about ‘This Christmas’?” And I said, ‘Well, that’s a great choice.’ That’s one of my favorite songs.”
What Collins didn’t know until later was that the song had special meaning for Miller, as well.
“Later, after we recorded it and he heard it, he told me a story about how his mom used to play that 45 when he was a little boy, and I just thought that was really something, because I’ve been listening to it for years and a lot of people that I know love that song.”
With a standard like “This Christmas” that has been covered many times, it’s up to each musician to make it his or her own. Before recording at Christopher Stoll’s studio in Holland, Collins and a group of musicians met at the University of Toledo Performing Arts Center to rehearse their take on the material.
“By the time we got to the studio, we were, you know, we were comfortable with the way we were going to record it. And Chris is so accommodating and so cool, I think we did it in like two takes,” Collins said.
It’s obvious from Collins’s voice how thrilled she was to once again take part in the “Holiday Wishes” project, benefiting Make-A-Wish.
“It’s always nice to have your music out there, but it’s nice when your music is helping someone like that,” she said.
