LOS ANGELES: Veteran musician Eric Clapton has announced his first ever full-length studio holiday album, 'Happy Xmas', set to release on October 12.
The album will features a version of "Jingle Bells" that is dedicated to the late DJ Avicii, who died of an apparent suicide in Oman in April.
'Happy Xmas' is Clapton's 24th studio album and his first since 2016's 'I Still Do', and mixes holiday classics with lesser-known unique titles, as well as an original new song "For love on Christmas day," reported Billboard.
Clapton and Avicii both struggled with substance abuse -- Clapton with both drugs and alcohol in the 1960s and 1970s, and Avicii with alcohol, which many believe contributed to the ill health that led him to stop touring.
Avicii was open about his struggles with mental health and addiction before his death.
"I had in my head that these holiday songs could be done with a slight blues tinge, and I started to figure out how to play the blues lines in between the vocals.
"I got it down and one of the most identifiable songs on the album, the one that became the foundational style, is 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas'," Clapton said in the album announcement.