For 25 years Mannheim Steamroller has been synonymous with Christmas.
The new age/classical group formed by Sylvania High School graduate Chip Davis has recorded 18 Christmas albums among its 35 releases and sold millions featuring its unique amalgam of classical and rock rewrites of holiday standards.
The band will perform Sunday at 4 and 7 p.m. at the Stranahan Theater.
The son of a Sylvania High School band director and a mother who was a trombonist, Davis grew up in a highly musical family. At the age of 4 he took piano lessons and at 6 had written his first composition. A University of Michigan graduate, he toured with the Norman Luboff Choir before returning to Sylvania and teaching at McCord Junior High School.
Davis made his way to Nebraska, in the 1970s and recorded jingles before helping create the C.W. McCall character who had a novelty hit with the song "Convoy." He returned to serious music though and formed Mannheim Steamroller in 1974 to record rock versions of classical music.
The group was popular with audiophiles and new-age music aficionados, but where Davis really struck gold was with his Christmas recordings, which started in 1984. The clean, crisp, and complex arrangements have become a holiday staple over the years and it's a formula that works.This year Mannheim is releasing a "Christmas 25th Anniversary Collection," which is a compilation of its best-known holiday songs.
Davis, who underwent hip replacement surgery recently, lives on a farm in the Midwest and still records original music, most of it not related to Christmas. On the band's Web site he said he is working on developing compositions that help hospital patients relax, a project that started when he was recovering from his surgery.
Mannheim Steamroller's holiday show is at 4 and 7 p.m. Sunday in the Stranahan Theater, 4645 Heatherdowns Blvd. Tickets for the 4 p.m. show are limited; more are available for the 7 p.m. concert. They are $72, $62, and $32, but very few of the $32 tickets are available for either show. For tickets call the Stranahan box office at 419-381-8851 or visit it between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. tomorrow from 9 to 1 p.m. Saturday. If tickets are still available they also will be sold the day of the shows. The box office is at 4645 Heatherdowns Blvd.
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