![\"Bill](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/wb-stl-bill-jolly-frame-462.jpg#.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nThe countdown to Christmas is on \u2014 and one Philadelphia musician is reminding us that the best gifts can’t be bought.<\/p>\n
Three-time Emmy-winning artist Bill Jolly is taking his talent off the stage and into schools and streets across the city. He calls the movement “My gift is my gift.” It’s a simple idea turned into a powerful reminder this holiday season that we all have something to give.<\/p>\n
Jolly is rarely far from his keyboard \u2014 and yes, that’s really his last name.<\/p>\n
“It’s my born name,” Jolly said<\/p>\n
Jolly invited CBS News Philadelphia to the Overbrook School for the Blind, where he played Christmas classics and connected with students.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Bill Jolly<\/p>\n
CBS Philadelphia<\/p>\n
“We all have those gifts inside of us, so we should use those gifts as our gifts,” Jolly said.<\/p>\n
Jolly has been performing across Philadelphia, bringing music into unexpected places, including the streets of Kensington, and documenting each stop along the way.<\/p>\n
“I played for men and women struggling to survive,” he said.<\/p>\n
Along the way, music created surprising connections.<\/p>\n
“It turns out we were both musicians,” Jolly said.<\/p>\n
Jolly isn’t just a street performer. He’s a composer, arranger and musical director who has worked with some of the biggest names in music, including Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, Patti LaBelle and P!NK.<\/p>\n
“When you understand your gifts come from a higher place, it tells you what you’re supposed to do,” Jolly said. “We’re here to help others.”<\/p>\n
At the Overbrook School for the Blind, a student named Ty got his moment to perform, and embraced every second of it.<\/p>\n
“I’m on TV!” Ty said. “I’m on CBS! This show’s the best. I’m chilling with my class!”<\/p>\n
Jolly says his hope this holiday season is simple: That others will feel inspired to use their own gifts.<\/p>\n
“There’s so much division in this world,” he said. “Empathy feels missing. Kindness feels missing.”<\/p>\n
Until then, he’ll keep using his gift and spreading the love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The countdown to Christmas is on \u2014 and one Philadelphia musician is reminding us that the best gifts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7865,69,71,70,7523],"class_list":["post-67569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-music","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-spreading-the-love"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}