Cher Talks New Christmas Album, from Studio 54 Inspiration to Duets with Famous Friends (Exclusive)

She's spreading Christmas Cher!

After more than 60 years in showbiz, Cher will release her very first holiday album, Christmas, on Oct. 20.

"I wanted to make a Cher Christmas album," the entertainment legend, 77, says in the new issue of PEOPLE, "but I didn't know how to do it. I never could figure out a way. Then this year, I just asked the record company if they would just let me do it — and just hand the finished product over to them —and they were agreeable, so I started picking songs."

The result: a 13-track collection, which features collaborations with pals including Stevie Wonder and Cyndi Lauper, covers of classics like Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run” and original tracks such as the dance-pop single “DJ Play a Christmas Song ” (which is “like being at Studio 54, only Studio 54 at Christmas,” she declares).

"We did them one at a time, so what I realized is that I have a fun Christmas album that only has a couple of sad songs," she says of the record. "I was really happy that it was eclectic, and it's really eclectic. I was proud of it myself."

As she put the album together, Cher recruited various friends to collaborate on the project.

When it came time to record Wonder's "What Christmas Means to Me," she called the man himself to join her on the track.

"[With ] my voice, I can do a lot of this song, and I think I can do it well, but there's some of the pieces on this, all I could think of was Stevie. I kept thinking, 'I can never do it this good.' After I wrestled with myself forever, I just thought, 'I'm calling Stevie,'" she recalls. "And I said, 'Stevie, I've done your song, and I want you to hear it, but there are parts on it I can't do. Please, will you do it?' And he said, 'Sure, Cher.' Then he said, 'Hey, Cher, you want me to play harmonica?' And I went, 'Absolutely.' Then I got off the phone, ran around my room and jumped up and down on my bed."

Other friends were just as happy to jump onboard. When she called Lauper to feature on "Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart," she said, "OK, whatever you want, I'll do it."

And Cher enjoyed a full-circle moment 60 years in the making when she decided to cover Darlene Love's 1963 song "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)."

"Now, you have to know that I did background on that song when I was 17 years old," Cher says. "So I called Darlene and said, 'Darlene, I'm going to do the song, and I'm not going to do it without you.' And she said, 'No problem!'"

But there was one secret gift in store for Cher. Her boyfriend, music executive Alexander "A.E." Edwards, produced her new track "Drop Top Sleigh Ride" — and he got their mutual friend, rapper Tyga, to deliver a verse "as a surprise," she says.

With so many collaborators, Cher says the recording experience "was like herding cats" — but was well worth it.

"When people hear this," she says of Christmas, "I want them to feel good."

For more from Cher, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.