Connect with Elizabeth
Elizabeth Chan has built one of the most unique lanes in modern music, dedicating her career solely to Christmas music. She is a singer, songwriter, brand architect, mom, and businesswoman who has released 15 Christmas albums over 12 years and written more than 1,200 Christmas songs.
Episode Summary
In this episode of Behind the Beat, Jeremy reconnects with Elizabeth Chan for a conversation filled with music business stories, humor, hustle, resilience, and Christmas magic.
Elizabeth shares the early roots of her music journey, including her first recording experience as a child performer in New York City and her teenage years auditioning through The Village Voice. She talks about being a homeless teenager, landing an opportunity with C+C Music Factory, signing deals that never saw the light of day, and learning the music business through experience rather than theory.
The episode also revisits a wild shared chapter between Jeremy and Elizabeth: the reality show On the Road with Sugar Ray, where their paths first crossed. Elizabeth explains how she hustled to get a driver's license in time to be on the show, eventually using that opportunity as a doorway into the business side of music.
From there, the conversation moves into what makes Elizabeth's career so singular: her decision to build an entire brand and body of work around Christmas music. She talks about niche, authenticity, creative delusion, resilience, family, and the desire to create music that outlives her. Her story is funny, sharp, honest, and deeply entrepreneurial.
This episode is about building your own lane, even when nobody else can see the road yet.
What You'll Learn
- How Elizabeth's earliest recording experience shaped her understanding of the music business
- Why getting signed does not always mean your music will come out
- What she learned from C+C Music Factory, Sony, and years of shelved projects
- How On the Road with Sugar Ray helped move her toward the executive side of music
- Why she chose to dedicate her career to Christmas music
- How niche can become a powerful creative and business strategy
- Why authenticity and bold vision matter in the music industry
- How resilience can be exhausting, but also clarifying
- What Elizabeth hopes her music contributes to the world long after she is gone
Memorable Quotes
"Don't anyone think this was overnight. This was decades overnight."
"There was no better education than to work with C+C Music Factory."
"Authenticity is the currency in this business."
"The people that make it are the ones that are almost so delusional about their vision that it has to happen."
"Resilience is exhausting."
Finding Your EDGE + Clarity Cards
Elizabeth Chan's story is a masterclass in building a lane that did not exist before. She did not wait for the industry to give her permission. She found her edge, claimed her niche, and kept creating until the world had to make room for it.
That same idea is at the center of Jeremy Haselwood's book, Finding Your EDGE: How to Unlock Your Talent & Purpose. The book helps readers explore their experiences, gifts, direction, and energy so they can better understand what they are meant to build and why it matters.
Available on Amazon, Audible, Kindle, and Apple Books. Order here: https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Your-EDGE-Unlock-Purpose/dp/B0BW32LXTP/
For anyone in a season of reflection, transition, or reinvention, Jeremy's Clarity Cards are another powerful tool. Each card offers a prompt designed to help you think more deeply, reconnect with purpose, and make clearer decisions about your next step.
Get your deck here: www.clarity-cards.com
