1. China Grove – Doobie Brothers

Without a doubt, the song I’ve enjoyed the most over this holiday. The guitar riff is cool, but the backing vocals are just fantastic. Pay particular attention to the chorus. Whenever the lead vocal isn’t doing something, there’s backing vocals echoing him or harmonising with him, and when there’s a gap, the harmonised guitars fill the gap with yet more call and response. It’s pure ear candy.

2. Peg – Steely Dan

Getting into Steely Dan over Christmas as well. This particular track is one of the perennial favourites of Dan-fans, but is relatively fresh to my ears. I love the slight shuffle plus the horn lines going on. The lead vocals aren’t top drawer, but the backing vocals are crisp.

3. Make my dreams come true – Hall and Oates

This is just seriously funky and a great song. My daughter absolutely loves this one and it’s been on repeat a LOT this Christmas.

4. Light My Way – Audioslave

HEAVY SOUNDS WARNING – This is a blast from my musical past, so if you don’t like heavy music, best to skip it. Audioslave were a band formed from the guitar, bass and drum section of Rage Against the Machine combined with vocalist Chris Cornell. This was one of the lesser known tracks but very very catchy. Interestingly, his favourite singers were Stevie Wonder and Maurice White of Earth, Wind and Fire, which you can here in a lot of his vocal excursions.

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Mark JW Graham - Mark is a high-end vocal coach and singing teacher based in Nottingham, UK.

Certified in Speech Level Singing, and with over 20 years of musical experience, he is known as the "go-to vocal coach" for singers wanting dramatic improvements in their singing voice in a short space of time.

Trusted by singers worldwide, Mark’s expertise as a coach, singer and musician helps clients transform their voices and raise their musicianship to new levels.