One Wish: The Holiday Album

One Wish: The Holiday Album is the sixth studio album by American singer Whitney Houston. It was released by Arista Records on November 18, 2003. Chiefly produced by Mervyn Warren, the album is a follow-up to her fifth studio album, Just Whitney (2002), as well as her first Christmas album. One Wish features cover versions of Christmas standards and carols, one of which is a duet with Houston's daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown. The album also includes "Joy to the World" and "Who Would Imagine a King," both of which first appeared on The Preacher's Wife soundtrack (1996).

The album received a mixed reception by music critics, many of whom praised the production but were divided upon Houston's vocal performance. Upon its release, One Wish debuted at number 49 on the US Billboard 200, and at number 13 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Its first and only single, a rendition of Freddie Jackson's "One Wish (for Christmas)", reached the top twenty on Billboard's US Adult Contemporary chart. In January 2018, the album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales over 500,000 copies.

Critical reception
AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine remarked that "holiday records are the last place anybody would want to take a risk, since they're designed to be nice, pleasant mood music and, apart from a rather horrid version of "Little Drummer Boy" [..] this suits the bill nicely. The clean, pristine production, heavy on synths, sounds as if it was cut in the late '80s, yet it's also strangely spare, often being no more than a synth and a drum machine. Still, it's a sound that's well suited for Whitney and her thoroughly predictable set of material." Moscow-Pullman Daily News wrote that Houston's "voice [...] dazzles on [the album] [...] as she soulfully interprets holiday classics. Her voice – though at times a bit raspy – captivates on every track." New York Times critic Jones Pareles noted the "lavish swoops, the sultry whispers, the gospelly asides and the meteoric crescendos" from Houston.

Caroline Sullivan, writing for The Guardian, noted that "stuff like this is so piddling for her that [Houston] seems to have zoned out halfway through. Why put any elbow grease into the "project" when all she need do is set her larynx to "reverent," then doze off? Saying that, she gives "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" some a cappella welly, and the cocktail doo-wop of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" is quite irresistible. Still, this is the Voice at its numbest." Slant critic Sal Cinquemani found that "one can't help but think that One Wish: The Holiday Album is nothing more than damage control [...] Houston's voice just isn’t what it used to be – she warbles her way through an otherwise understated version of the contemporary classic [...] and sings 'Tiny little tots with their eyes all aglow/Will find it hard to sleep tonight' on Mel Tormé's "The Christmas Song" like she wants to eat them." In 2014, Los Angeles Times critic Randy Lewis included One Wish on his listing of the "12 of the worst holiday albums of the last 20 years." He noted that "for this set, Houston seemed intent on shoehorning more notes into each syllable than Mariah Carey, resulting in an orgy of melismatics that often obliterates the spirit of these holiday tunes."

Commercial performance
One Wish: The Holiday Album debuted and peaked at number 49 on the US Billboard 200. It marked Houston's lowest chart opening up to then and was a considerable decline from her previous effort Just Whitney (2002), which had debuted at number nine the year before. On Billboards component charts, it reached number 13 on Billboards Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, becoming her first album to miss the top ten, as well as number five on the Top Holiday Albums chart. In January 2018, One Wish was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales in excess of 500,000 units.

Personnel
Credits adapted from AllMusic.


 * Joey Arbagey – A&R
 * Julien Barber – viola
 * Ray Bardani – mixing
 * Sandra Billingslea – violin
 * Ralph Blane –
 * Edie Lehmann Boddicker – background vocals
 * Joseph Bongiorno – upright bass
 * Alfred Brown – viola
 * Ray Brown Trio – primary artist
 * Carmen Carter – background vocals
 * Gordon Chambers –  producer, vocal arrangement, background vocals
 * Bernard Davis – drums
 * John Dexter – viola
 * Sante d'Orazio – photography
 * Earl Dumler – oboe
 * Barry J. Eastmond – conductor, engineer, keyboards, producer, string arrangements
 * Max Ellen – violin
 * Steve Fisher – assistant
 * Roxanna Floy – make-Up
 * Scott Frankfurt – drum programming, percussion programming
 * Ian Freebairn-Smith – background vocals
 * Roger Freeland – background vocals
 * Michelle George – A&R
 * Georgia Mass Choir – primary artist
 * Sharlotte Gibson – background vocals
 * Sandi Hall – background vocals
 * Phil Hamilton – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
 * Reggie Hamilton – bass
 * John Holmes – assistant
 * Ashley Horne – violin
 * Gary Houston – background vocals
 * Whitney Houston – lead vocals, producer, vocal arrangement
 * Regis Iandiorio – violin
 * Paul Jackson Jr. – guitar
 * Ronald Jenkins – bass
 * Richard Thomas Jennings – art direction, design
 * Bashiri Johnson – percussion
 * Thom "TK" Kidd – engineer
 * Olivia Koppell – viola
 * Gail Kruvand – bass
 * David Kutch – mastering
 * Ellin La Var – hair stylist
 * Leonid Levin – violin
 * Jesse Levy – cello
 * Ezekiel Lewis – vocal arrangement, background vocals
 * Jason Locklin – assistant
 * Stephen Mackey – background vocals
 * Joseph Magee – engineer
 * Margaret Magill – violin
 * Phil Magnotti – string engineer
 * Nick Marshall – assistant
 * Myrna Matthews – background vocals
 * Roger Moody – assistant
 * Kermit Moore – cello
 * Michael Morton – flute
 * Jeff Moses – assistant
 * Eugene J. Moye – cello
 * Jack Odom – assistant
 * Zack Odom – assistant
 * Dean Parks – guitar
 * Carol Pool – violin
 * Dave Reitzas – mixing
 * Alex Reverberi – assistant
 * Marnie Riley – assistant
 * Maxine Roach – viola
 * Anthony Ruotolo – assistant
 * Matthew Schwartz – a&r
 * Tony Shepperd – engineer, mixing
 * Rob Skipworth – assistant
 * Ivy Skoff – production coordination
 * Matt Snedecor – assistant
 * Timothy Snell – stylist
 * Andy Stein – violin
 * Katherine LiVolsi Stern – violin
 * Sally Stevens – vocal contractor, background vocals
 * Marti Sweet – violin
 * Gerald Tarack – concert master, violin
 * Craig "Niteman" Taylor – assistant
 * Troy Taylor – arranger, bass, drums, keyboards, producer, programming, vocal arrangement, background vocals
 * Shelene Thomas – background vocals
 * Carmen Twillie – background vocals
 * Mervyn Warren – arranger, choir arrangement,  conductor, drum programming, keyboards, percussion, percussion programming, piano, producer, string arrangements, vocals, background vocals
 * Oren Waters – background vocals
 * John West – background vocals
 * Gerald White – background vocals
 * Michael White – engineer
 * Belinda Whitney – violin
 * Frank Wolf – engineer
 * Harry Zaratzian – viola