Thrust into fame as the New York City police officer whose voice comforted a grieving nation after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Daniel Rodriguez seems to take his role as a sort of musical ambassador of healing as a calling. "I've lived 9/11 since that day, in my life and in my work," he says. "Everything I do in my life, when I get hired for an event, I not only get hired for my voice, but because I represent something positive that people remember from a time when the city really needed some uplifting."

His latest effort, the just-released "A Glorious Christmas," contains a version of "I Believe," a duet with wife Maria Kavanaugh, that he considers "as much for the times, these troubled times, as for the season. I've never seen a world so unstable as it is now. Those who've lived longer than me, I'm sure, have seen more — but the threats that are happening now and the way that they're happening, you know, it seems very close to home," he observes. "I wanted to record something that would give words of inspiration, and I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather express that with more than my wife."

The album, which contains Christmas favorites like "Mary Did You Know?," "Do You Hear What I Hear" and "When a Child is Born," is a fundraiser for Daniel's Start Singing Foundation that funds music scholarships and promotes music as part of a holistic method "to combat PTSD, Alzheimer's, autism. We work with children, we work with soldiers, we work with battered women all trying to find their voice."

The Puerto Rican American tenor has always had a charitable bent. Even back in his policeman days, he formed a group that performed at hospitals, seniors' homes, and other places where people were in need of uplifting. That was before the attacks, before his months working in the rubble of Ground Zero, before he performed the National Anthem and "Prayer for America" at Yankee Stadium, before opera star Placido Domingo heard him and offered him training. It was before Daniel retired from police work and entered the full time singing career that has taken him all over the world and led to his string of albums.

"I've been doing music living music since I was 8 years old, singing professionally since I was 11, so music is what I've always been," he notes. "My spirit has always been one of service, one of faith, so every opportunity you have to give back — every opportunity you have to do good — you should."

He raised the money to record the album by offering to sing. "I had to raise the money for this album myself, because it was not under any label. The way I did that was, I sold concerts — private concerts and public concerts, for a discounted price. I would come out by myself or with a piano player, and do concerts in homes or events. And then the money would be used to create the album. Now I'm paying back by going out and doing the shows that I promised to do. And the great thing about that, from a business standpoint is, now I do the show and at the shows people buy the album." He laughs. "I'm writing a book on the new record business."

Just getting over a bad cold, Daniel is girding himself for the rigors of a very busy holiday season. His danielrodrigueztenor.com site contains his holiday touring schedule.

"There's a lot of Christmas going on."