Christopher Lee has finally reached a certain career plateau at the ripe, young age of 91: He's reached the Billboard Hot 100 as a performer. We only admit that we were joking about the "young" part because this story revolves around the actor becoming the oldest individual ever to reach the chart. As of the last week of December, his track was sitting at the no. 18 spot on the list.
No doubt an "easy listening" jazz number, no? HELL NO. This is the guy who played Saruman in the Lord of The Rings trilogy, and anyone who plays a bada-- villain wizard is almost legally required to record all their future musical endeavors within the metal genre (we're looking at you, Ralph Fiennes).
As such, Lee's new hot single comes from the compilation Heavy Metal Too, which as you may have guessed from the title, is the second rocking holiday release for the knighted actor. The actor sounds shaky during his taped introduction below, but during the track his voice is just as commanding as Saruman's. The track in question, titled "Jingle Hell," might offend more conservative listeners, but if anyone's got the right to record such a thing, it's the guy who played Dracula and who tracked down Nazi war criminals in real life (true story).
Naturally, there's some guitar soloing and blast-beats to go along, but Lee is the star in this performance. He takes the record from Tony Bennet, whose 2011 track "Body and Soul" (featuring Amy Winehouse) put him on the list at age 86.
"Wonderful news!" he said in a statement when hearing the news. "I want to thank everyone involved, especially the fans. I have spent my career surprising people, so here's to the next one."
