Mannheim Steamroller is a music group founded by Chip Davis, and co-founded by Jackson Berkey, known primarily for its modern recordings of Christmas music. The group has sold 28 million albums in the U.S. alone. [1]

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History

Beginnings

Mannheim Steamroller actually began as an alias for record producer/composer Chip Davis. The name "Mannheim Steamroller" comes from an 18th-century German musical technique, Mannheim rocket or roller , an ascending arpeggio popularized by the Mannheim school of composition. Before the fame of Steamroller, Davis had been best known for creating the country music character "C. W. McCall" (of "Convoy" fame) for his friend Bill Fries. Even before Davis made McCall a star, he produced an unusual album of classical music performed entirely by Davis and musical collaborator and keyboardist Jackson Berkey, using electric bass (played by Eric Hansen) and synthesizers.

Since no major label would handle its distribution, Davis founded his own music label, American Gramaphone (a play on the classical record label Deutsche Grammophon), to release the album. The result, Fresh Aire , was released in 1975 under the pseudonym Mannheim Steamroller, in the hopes of the album being a best seller. Fresh Aire II was subsequently released in 1977 and Fresh Aire III was released in 1979. The first four Fresh Aire albums constituted a "four seasons" exploration, with Fresh Aire being spring, Fresh Aire II being fall (less obviously than the others), Fresh Aire III being summer, and Fresh Aire IV being winter. All four of these albums maintained the blend of baroque classical music, light jazz, and a light sense of humor (Davis is credited as playing "more toys" on the Fresh Aire III album credits), and featuring Jackson Berkey's virtuosic keyboard work (for more examples, listen to Berkey's own Sunken Cathedral for master performances of classical works by Debussy, Persichetti and others). Davis and Berkey would use whatever instrument seemed appropriate to the piece, using toy piano on one piece and full pipe organ on another, with copious interleaving of piano and harpsichord.

Davis then moved into exploring some other themes, with Fresh Aire V being subtitled "To the Moon," Fresh Aire VI exploring Greek mythology, Fresh Aire 7 being based on the number 7, and Fresh Aire 8 being based on the theme of infinity. A live tour of the early albums featured a prominent light show and multimedia components, along with spoken poetry by Almeda Berkey. While the music was slightly different from the album versions, the music was played in lockstep at each show, as it had to coordinate the live musicians with recorded tracks of strings and other orchestral parts.

In 1986, Mannheim Steamroller released music composed for a PBS special called Saving the Wildlife , which featured one track from Fresh Aire VI and twelve new tracks. In 1987, Davis collaborated with guitarist/composer Mason Williams for the album Classical Gas . The music was composed entirely by Williams but produced and arranged by Davis. The album opens with a remake of Williams' 1968 instrumental "Classical Gas", which used the original arrangement.

Christmas music success

But it was beginning in 1984 that Steamroller found its greatest fame. Davis released his first holiday album, Mannheim Steamroller Christmas , featuring modern contemporary interpretations of Yuletide favorites. This was followed by A Fresh Aire Christmas (1988) and Christmas in the Aire (1995), which showcased creative approaches to old carols, as well as some new carol-like compositions. Steamroller had now become one of the most requested Christmas music artists of all time, in part by adopting a very radio-friendly approach. (In addition, their music was featured around Christmastime by Rush Limbaugh, whose conservative talk radio program was gaining popularity around this time.) By the end of 1997, they had released a live album of Christmas music, Mannheim Steamroller Christmas Live . 2001 saw the release of their fourth all-new Christmas album, Christmas Extraordinaire . Christmas Celebration , a compilation of favorite tracks from the previous studio albums (with one new song), was released in 2004. Their newest studio album of Christmas music Christmas Song was released in late 2007 and features guest vocals by Johnny Mathis and Olivia Newton-John.

Musically, as the 1990s progressed Davis moved into the mainstream of "New Age" music with a heavier reliance on synthetic instruments and less humor (titles like "Small Wooden Bach'ses" from Fresh Aire III were no more seen, let alone the creative use of a cricket on the same album or the Gregorian chant on Fresh Aire II). His music also began to hew more closely to the "light jazz" style that became prominent in the 1990s, especially with the Day Parts albums.

Steamroller had also developed a full-length theatrical motion picture based on their Christmas albums, but the plans fell through. Instead, the following year, they collaborated with Olivia Newton-John for yet another Christmas album, a mostly spoken-word recording scored with previously released material called The Christmas Angel: A Family Story . In 2003 they released a CD entitled Halloween .

In addition to their Fresh Aire and Christmas collections, Steamroller has released an album of Disney music (1999's Mannheim Steamroller Meets the Mouse ), one celebrating his American heritage (2003's American Spirit , which reunited Chip Davis with C.W. McCall and featured a remake of "Convoy"), and an album "Yellowstone" mixing prior Davis compositions and a series of classical pieces by Ottorino Respighi and others.

Mannheim Steamroller's An American Christmas is a 12-hour nationally broadcast radio special program of music and narrated stories, heard on over 250 stations across the United States. The program is hosted by the group's founder Chip Davis and is produced and distributed each year by WestStar TalkRadio Network.

In 2008, Chip Davis underwent surgery which prevented him from touring or performing with the band. Rather than force the tour to stop completely while he recovered, Davis opted to hire additional musicians to temporarily replace him. He also decided to create two different lineups of the band, one of which toured in the Midwest, the other on the East Coast. ^[2]

Discography

The Fresh Aire Series

• Fresh Aire (1975)
• Fresh Aire II (1977)
• Fresh Aire III (1979)
• Fresh Aire IV (1981)
• Fresh Aire V (1983)
• Fresh Aire VI (1986)
• Fresh Aire 7 (1991)
• Fresh Aire 8 (2000)

Christmas albums

Year	Album	Peak Chart Positions			RIAA U.S. Sales
		Top New Age Albums	Top Holiday Albums	Billboard 200 Albums
1984	Mannheim Steamroller Christmas	8	2	50	6x Platinum
1988	A Fresh Aire Christmas	4	1	36	6x Platinum
1995	Christmas in the Aire	1	1	3	4x Platinum
1997	Mannheim Steamroller Christmas Live	1	1	24	Platinum
1998	The Christmas Angel: A Family Story	1	2	25	Platinum
2001	Christmas Extraordinaire	1	1	5	3x Platinum
2004	Christmas Celebration	1	1	19	Platinum
2007	Christmas Song	1	2	5	Platinum
2008	A Candlelight Christmas	1	8	68
2008	Christmasville	2	8	48

Ambience albums

• Bird Song (2001)
• Summer Song (2001)
• Autumn Song (2003)
• Desert Song (?)
• Ocean Song (?)
• Night Song (?)
• * The last three are mentioned in the liner notes for the existing Ambience CDs, but have not yet been released.

Other albums

• Saving the Wildlife (1986)
• Classical Gas (1987)
• Yellowstone: The Music of Nature (1989)
• Day Parts: Sunday Morning Coffee (1991)
• Day Parts: Dinner (1992)
• Day Parts: Party - Music That Cooks (1992)
• Day Parts: Romance (1992)
• Chip Davis's Impressions (1993)
• Day Parts: Sunday Morning Coffee II (1993)
• To Russia with Love (1994)
• Day Parts: Party 2 - Music That Cooks (1995)
• Day Parts: Holiday Musik (1996)
• Huskers Musik (1997) ^[3]
• Chip Davis's Renaissance Holiday (1998)
• Day Parts: Romance II (1998)
• Mannheim Steamroller Meets the Mouse (1998)
• 25 Year Celebration of Mannheim Steamroller (1999)
• Romantic Melodies (2002)
• American Spirit (2003)
• Halloween (2003)
• Halloween: Monster Mix (2004)
• Romantic Themes (2004)
• Halloween, Vol. 2: Creatures Collection (2006)
• Halloween: Sweet Tooth (2006)

Notes

1. RIAA
2. http://shop.mannheimsteamroller.com/content/Tour.htm
3. Discography — Manheim Steamroller

See also

• Hooked on Classics
• Trans-Siberian Orchestra
• Best selling music artists