If there's one thing everyone can agree on about Kenny G., it's that he's a truly talented saxophonist. From solo performances to beautiful collaborations, he mesmerizes audiences with his smooth jazz sounds -- and it's all been played on the same decades-old saxophone.
"I've had the same sax since I was in high school. Same one," Kenny G. tells "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" in the above video, showing off the instrument. "Everything I've ever played and recorded has been on this horn. Everything."
Though he has produced best-selling albums and has performed for packed crowds throughout his career, Kenny G. humbly attributes his talent to sheer hard work. "I practice my saxophone three hours every day," he says. "I'm not saying that I'm anything super special, but I've practiced for 40-plus years. If you do something for 40-plus years every day and you work hard at it, you're going to get good."
Kenny G.'s albums delight fans year-round, but the time of year that many associate with this beloved artist is Christmas. His 1994 holiday album "Miracles" is the second-best-selling Christmas record of all time (behind Elvis Presley's "Christmas Album"), and Kenny G. continues to play holiday classics on his saxophone every time the spirited season rolls around.
"'Deck the Halls' is probably my most favorite Christmas arrangement I've done," Kenny G. says. "It just gets you in the mood. I'm real proud of it, I love the melody and it's a song everybody knows. It's fun."
But what sparked a Jewish, self-taught saxophonist to put out an album of Christmas classics in the first place? Turns out, the better question is, who?
"The reason I started making holiday music was I would play 'White Christmas' at a live show. Dyan Cannon, the actress -- she was a friend of mine -- and she goes, 'You should make a whole album like that,'" Kenny G. says. "Then I go to Clive Davis and I say, 'Clive, I'm thinking about doing a Christmas record, but I'm Jewish.' Clive says, 'Hey me, too! We're all Jewish!'"
For that reason, there's one small fact that many people don't seem to notice about Kenny G.'s albums.
"If you'll notice... any Christmas record that I do is never really called a 'Christmas' record," he says. "It's called a 'holiday' record."
His "Miracles" holiday record still has a clear place among the Christmas greats, even 20 years after its release. "To know 'Miracles' is played in so many homes and it's a big part of people's holiday season is really flattering," Kenny G. says. "That CD was really, really heartfelt."
Related: Watch Kenny G. drop a bombshell during his 1986 appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show"
"Oprah: Where Are They Now?" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on OWN. Find OWN on your TV.
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