Jose Mari Chan (born March 11, 1945) is a Filipino-Chinese
singer-songwriter and entrepreneur best known for his
Christmas Songs including "Christmas in Our Hearts". Besides his Christmas album, he has also done a number of easy listening,
jazz and pop albums since
The '60s, having collaborated with fellow Filipino pop acts such as
Ogie Alcasid,
Lea Salonga and many others. Chan is currently the chairman and CEO of Binalbagan Isabela Sugar Company, Inc. (BISCOM) and A. Chan Sugar Corporation, having inherited the business from his family.
Albums:
- Deep in My Heart (1969)
- Can We Just Stop and Talk Awhile (1973)
- Afterthoughts (1974)
- Here and Now (1975)
- A Golden Collection (1985)
- Constant Change (1989)
- Christmas in Our Hearts (1990)
- Thank You Love (1994)
- Strictly Commercial: The Jingles Collection (1997)
- Souvenirs (1998)
- A Heart's Journey (2001)
- Love Letters and Other Souvenirs (2007)
- The Manhattan Connection (2011)
- Going Home to Christmas (2012)
- Christmas In Our Hearts: 25th Anniversary Edition (2015)
He's associated with the following tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Chan became a
staple of memes in recent years, largely due to the enduring popularity of his 1990 Christmas album which has since been a yearly tradition—so much so that public establishments such as shopping centres play "Christmas In Our Hearts" as early as September. He did acknowledge this and found the jokes rather funny, but remarked
that some of the memes were crossing the line, especially as he views the song in question as "a gift from Our Lord," never to be trivialised or made irreverent. - Christmas Songs: Christmas In Our Hearts and Going Home to Christmas.
- Commercialized Christmas: Chan's appearance in advertisements for Shopee, an online shopping site in Southeast Asia with him singing a Christmas version of Shopee's jingle in his mellow calming voice.
- Cover Version: "A Christmas Carol", "This Beautiful Day" and "Christmas Children" were covered from the 1970 musical Scrooge, while "Give Me Your Heart for Christmas" and "Little Christmas Tree" are covers of the 1950s McGuire Sisters original and Mickey Rooney song respectively.
- Everyone Is Christian at Christmas: Chan's Christmas songs are non-secular in nature and Jesus Christ is actually part of his songs' lyrics. He did however recall in an interview that a group of Muslims actually asked him to sing his signature song in front of them. Said Muslims sang along with Chan, who was touched upon knowing how the song transcended religious and cultural boundaries.
- Flanderized: In that people largely associate him with Christmas music, though of course there's definitely more to it than "whenever I see girls and boys..."
- Product Placement: Strictly Commercial: The Jingles Collection, which is a rather interesting if not bizarre compilation album consisting of songs he composed for television and radio advertisements.
- True Meaning of Christmas: Christmas in Our Hearts is basically this trope.
