Holiday music preview: Darlene Love, Mariah Carey, Laurie Berkner, more

Darlene Love is the traditional type. For 28 years, she performed her classic, "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)" on David Letterman's late-nigh shows and for the past nine years she has done it on "The View." However, another tradition that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame singer has established is playing on Long Island every holiday season.

"I love Long Island. It has become a regular holiday tour stop for me," says Love, 83. "I started coming a while ago and they always ask me back. Now it’s an annual event."

Love will headline the Landmark on Main Street — Jeanne Rimsky Theater in Port Washington with her "Love for the Holidays" show on Dec. 8. This is one of several holiday-themed concerts happening all over Nassau and Suffolk this December.

BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY

Turn up the Yuletide madness as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s "Wild and Swingin’ Holiday Party" hits the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts on Dec. 6 at 8 p.m.

"We bring a punk attitude toward swing music. It’s a bit more ruckus than the Glenn Miller Orchestra," says drummer and founding member Kurt Sodergren. "We get loud and tend to break some rules, but it’s appropriate for everybody."

The band mixes colorful Christmas hits like "Mr. Heatmiser," "You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" and "Run, Rudolph, Run" with their own holiday-themed originals such as "Rockabilly Christmas" and "Last Night (I Went Out with Santa Claus)."

"Christmas is about tradition and we love every minute of it," says Sodergren. "Even if there’s seats, people will find a way to dance."

BBVD will also include favorites like "You and Me & the Bottle Makes 3 (Tonight)," "Go Daddy-O" and "I Wanna Be Like You" featured in the 1996 film, "Swingers."

MORE INFO Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts, 71 E. Main St., Patchogue; 631-207-1313, patchoguetheatre.org

COST $42-$72

DARLENE LOVE

When she plays Port Washington on Dec. 8 at 7 p.m., Love’s set will draw heavily from the legendary Phil Spector holiday album, "A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector," which was released in November 1963.

"We were making that album on the hottest day of the year in California trying to sing about Christmas in the recording studio when it was 100 degrees outside," recalls Love. "We were almost done with the album when Phil Spector wanted to add an original song in the mix called ‘Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home).’ ”

The song became a top 10 hit and entered the pantheon of Christmas anthems that was made popular multiple times over the years with re-recordings by Mariah Carey, U2 and Michael Bublé.

"I had never heard any Christmas song like that before. It had an incredible beat, but a great meaning too. It could be about anything you wanted from a loved one coming home to a father you haven’t seen or a lover," says Love. "We were all amazed at how well it turned out. I didn’t know that 60 years later it would be one of the biggest Christmas songs around."

MORE INFO Landmark on Main Street — Jeanne Rimsky Theater, 232 Main St., Port Washington; 516-767-6444, landmarkonmainstreet.org

COST $69-$89

MY COUNTRY 96.1 FM’s ‘SECRET HOLIDAY SHOW’

What’s a holiday without a surprise? Every year My Country WJVC / 96.1 FM gives a gift to its listeners by putting on a "Secret Holiday Show," which comes to Mulcahy’s Pub & Concert Hall in Wantagh on Dec. 11 at 7:30 p.m., where the acts are unknown until they hit the stage.

"This has become one of our most well-known yearly events, so it always has special meaning," says morning DJ Phathead. "People trust that we will bring them a solid show for a low price."

Past "Secret Holiday Show" headliners include Darius Rucker, Kelsea Ballerini, Jordan Davis, Maren Morris, Dan + Shay, Carly Pearce, Lainey Wilson, HARDY, Parker McCollum, Walker Hayes, Kacey Musgraves, Jon Pardi and dozens of others.

"The bigger artists love playing smaller places, so it’s not difficult to get them to do it," says Phathead. "For an event like this they almost prefer it to be a smaller place."

MORE INFO Mulcahy’s Pub & Concert Hall, 3232 Railroad Ave., Wantagh; 516-783-7500, muls.com
COST $40.60, 21 and older

THAT MOTOWN BAND

Flashback to Detroit in the ‘60s and ‘70s when That Motown Band spotlights the legendary music during its holiday show at the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts on Dec. 14 at 8 p.m. Here the Four Tops, the Temptations, the Supremes, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and more will be celebrated.

"Our goal is to closely emulate the original artists by making the music as authentic as it can be, out of respect," says bassist/manager Lon Dolber of East Moriches. "We play the songs from beginning to end. There’s no piecing them together in a medley. People get to hear the whole song."

For the holiday season, the vocally driven band, featuring two male and two female singers, will tackle songs like "Please Come Home for Christmas" by Charles Brown, "Give Love on Christmas Day" by the Jackson 5, "What Christmas Means to Me" by Stevie Wonder and "I Want to Come Home for Christmas" by Marvin Gaye. Other non-holiday classics from Hitsville, U.S.A. are included such as "I Heard it Through the Grapevine," "Get Ready," "Signed, Sealed Delivered I'm Yours," "Ain’t No Mountain High Enough," "Standing in the Shadows of Love," "I Second That Emotion," "You’re My Everything" and others.

"We purposely pick holiday songs that were written for Christmas by Motown artists," says Dolber. "This is memory music. Everybody will say I remember what was happening when that song came out."

MORE INFO Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts, 71 E. Main St., Patchogue; 631-207-1313, patchoguetheatre.org

COST $32-$62

LAURIE BERKNER

Award-winning children’s music singer/songwriter  Berkner performs a solo acoustic holiday concert at The Paramount in Huntington on Dec. 15 at 11 a.m.

"The show will be a combination of nonsecular winter celebration songs, Christmas songs, Hanukkah songs, a little Kwanzaa, everything will be mixed together," says Berkner, 55.

Expect to hear "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Jingle Bells," "Holly Jolly Christmas," "Deck the Halls," "Candle Chase" and "Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel" plus Berkner originals "I Live Inside a Snowglobe (Shake It Up)," "When It’s Cold," "Candy Cane Jane" and "Christmas Lights," which "contains one verse for Hanukkah, one verse for Kwanzaa and one verse for Christmas."

Each tune will be paired with a movement to make the show more interactive for children, who are encouraged to bring their favorite handheld stuffed animal.

"One of the guiding principles when I write is to figure out what would keep a child engaged throughout the whole song and a lot of times that’s physical movement," says Berkner. "Sometimes we forget as adults just how linked music and movement are in the way we experience it and feel it in our bodies."

MORE INFO The Paramount, 370 New York Ave., Huntington; 631-673-7300, paramountny.com
COST $34.25-$171.10

MARIAH CAREY

After an 18-year absence from Long Island, the pop diva from  Huntington is bringing her "Christmas Time Tour" to UBS Arena in Elmont for a homecoming show on Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m. The "Queen of Christmas" is celebrating the 30th anniversary of her 1994 multiplatinum "Merry Christmas" album containing the No. 1 song, "All I Want for Christmas Is You," which became one of the bestselling singles of all-time (over 16 million sold).

MORE INFO UBS Arena at Belmont Park, 2400 Hempstead Turnpike, Elmont; 516-460-8950, ubsarena.com

COST $71.15-$766.95

By David J. Criblez

david.criblez@newsday.comDavidJCriblez

David J. Criblez is a reporter for Newsday's exploreLI, covering entertainment-related events from local music to stand-up comedy to festivals.