I'm not the only one who receives CDs from the land of the true Santa Claus. My daughter received a present one year - a CD with a variety of artists. At least one of those artists, however, was not Scandinavian.
In his radio hit ''Lonely,'' Senegal-born rapper Akon aligns his rhymes with a sample from ''Mr. Lonely'' — yes, the 1964 schmaltz smash by the ''Polish Prince,'' Bobby Vinton. It's the first top 10 chart appearance in 31 years for Vinton, still on the road at 69, and he's both delighted and dumbfounded.
In fact, Vinton was offered a role in Akon's video - but he regretfully declined.
Akon wanted me to do the video. But I couldn't — I was playing the Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee.
Universal Music has provided the video on YouTube. However, embedding is disabled, so you'll have to go here to see it.
