Ho Ho Ho, RuPaul (Rhino)

America's favorite drag queen plays Christmas for all it's worth on this 1997 album, with tunes like "RuPaul the Red-Nosed Drag Queen" and "All I Want for Christmas" ...is plastic surgery. He slips in an original, "Funky Christmas (Christmas at My House)" that thoughtfully includes "A Visit From St. Nicholas," and a dance medley of several traditional Christmas standards. Ru shows a bit of creativity in choosing songs, like Dolly Parton's "With Bells On," Little Steven Van Zandt's "All Alone on Christmas," a funky "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch" and an interesting arrangement in which "Disco Lady" meets "Here Comes Santa Claus." On the other hand, his "Santa Baby" is overbaked and he ruins the joke of "I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus," done in a much funnier version by comedian Kip Addotta on the first Dr. Demento Christmas album. This album was released in conjunction with his VH1 show from that period; he previously did an excellent dance-pop single of "Little Drummer Boy" on Tommy Boy in 1995 that isn't part of this collection. Strangely, the music section of RuPaul's website ignores his holiday releases.