Payson woman with viral 'Hallelujah' video to release Christmas album

(Bree Toone)


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PAYSON — After her version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" went viral and left her fans begging for more, a stay-at-home mother of two decided to release a Christmas album.

Payson resident Shannon Abbott rewrote the lyrics for a talent show held during this year's Payson's Golden Onion Days. Abbott later recorded the song after the talent show and posted it on her Facebook page to share it with her grandmother and a few friends who couldn't be there.

The video immediately went viral, resonating with mothers and others around the world.

"I've never pursued music professionally," Abbott said. "So all of this has totally just been crazy to start with. Ever since that song, there have been thousands of people who have followed me on Facebook since then and they are like, 'When are you going to do an album? When are you going to do a CD?' And I just felt like with Christmas coming, it just kind of seemed like the natural next step to take, for now."

Abbott raised almost $1,000 with a GoFundMe campaign to pay for the recording costs.

You wanna know something CRAZY!? I decided to add up the total views my 'Mommy's Hallelujah' video had (from my...

Posted by Shannon Christensen Abbott on Thursday, October 29, 2015

"I'm not necessarily one to ask for money, but when people were asking for more and more music, I'm like, 'OK, if you guys want this, you are going to have to help me because we're just a one-income family,'" Abbott said. "It's such a surreal and humbling feeling knowing that people want to hear me sing that much that they are willing to pay their hard-earned money." She said she wanted to highlight the real reason for Christmas with several faith-filled songs and wanted to keep the album simple. She was accompanied by Orem musicians Brianna Toone on guitar and cellist Maddie Merchant.

"I always wanted it to be very simple, very pure, and not get crazy fancy with it," she said of the album. "It's very simple, but I think that's what people like. I think they like that I'm just a mom singing beautiful songs from my heart and not getting all crazy with it."

The album, "Remember the Reason," includes five Christmas songs and will be released on iTunes and Amazon Saturday.

Abbott said she hopes to be able to also record and release her version of "Hallelujah," but that because it isn't classified as a parody of the original, she would need permission from the creators so as not to have copyright infringement. She said she is still waiting to hear back.

She also plans to record another album in the future, but first plans to audition for "America's Got Talent" on Dec. 5 in Salt Lake City.

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