AT&T Performing Arts Center and Mendelson Entertainment Group present THE COLORS OF CHRISTMAS
By: A.A. Cristi Jul. 11, 2017
The nonprofit AT&T Performing Arts Center and Mendelson Entertainment Group are excited to announce that tickets for The Colors of Christmas featuring Peabo Bryson, Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr., Ruben Studdard and Jody Watley will go on sale Friday, July 14 at 10 a.m.
Hosted by Grammy Award-winner Peabo Bryson, hear a stellar collection of R&B and soul artists deliver the sounds of the holiday season. This one-night-only
performance at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, December 17, 2017 at the Majestic Theatre is sure to bring holiday cheer to everyone in the audience.
Center Members get access to the best available seats. Call Membership Services at 214-978-2888 or go to www.attpac.org/support to join. Center Membership presale will begin Monday, July 10 at 10 a.m.
Ticket prices for The Colors of Christmas range from $129 to $49 and can be purchased, beginning on July 14 at 10 a.m., online at www.attpac.org, by phone at 214-880-0202 or in person at the AT&T Performing Arts Center Winspear Opera House Box Office at 2403 Flora Street. The Box Office will be open 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 90 minutes before performances - closed Saturdays and Sundays.
Peabo Bryson has established a career as one of the premier male vocalists in contemporary music of the last quarter century. Possessing a beautifully rich, almost operatic voice, this two-time Grammy Award-winner has survived and prospered despite the passage of time and changes in popular musical trends.
With twenty albums to his credit, Peabo Bryson has enjoyed an unprecedented, across-the-board level of international success, Bryson has the distinction of being the first artist in music history to have separate records topping four different charts.
Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr., former lead singers of the internationally renowned 5th Dimension and later a Grammy winning duo, have enjoyed tremendous success through the years as recording artists, performers, actors and authors. They have received seven Grammy Awards, numerous gold and platinum records, induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and enjoyed starring roles on television and stage. As lead vocalists of The 5th Dimension in the '60s and '70s, McCoo and Davis recorded such classics as "Up, Up & Away," "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In," "Wedding Bell Blues," "One Less Bell to Answer," "Stoned Soul Picnic," "Last Night (I Didn't Get To Sleep At All)" and other chart toppers.
After more than a decade with The 5th Dimension, they decided to leave the group and establish themselves as a duo. They had immediate success with the #1 single, "You Don't Have to be a Star (To Be In My Show)," which earned them a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance By a Duo or Group. Among their many honors as a duo, they received the Grand Prize at the Tokyo Music Festival. McCoo and Davis have also enjoyed solo pursuits. For five years, McCoo hosted the groundbreaking, worldwide television music series "Solid Gold," which featured the top recording artists of the time. Davis had the chance to realize a lifelong dream to record a religious album with gospel great, the Rev. James Cleveland, entitled, "Let Me Have a Dream".
Now married for 42 years, the couple has written a critically acclaimed book Up, Up and Away...How We Found Love, Faith And Lasting Marriage in the Entertainment World. Their newest CD, The Many Faces of Love, is a collection of love songs written by some of the top songwriters of the '60s and '70s, which explores the various aspects of relationships. McCoo and Davis keep a busy schedule touring performing arts centers, casinos and other venues domestically and internationally. Their website is http://mccoodavis.com.
On today's ever changing musical landscape, the definition of R&B fluctuates as much as the rolling hills from the steep pitches and flat meadows of Birmingham's Red Mountains. Generation Y looks to rhythm-driven artists Ne-Yo, Trey Songz and Usher as the personification of soul while many Baby Boomers insist that only the raw, melodious sounds of soul men like Luther Vandross and Marvin Gaye are the real deal. Ruben Studdard is the uniquely perfect combination of both schools of music and he brings both exciting dimensions to Letters From Birmingham (Shanachie-March 13, 2012). This alluring concept album about the ups and downs of modern romance is the project Studdard has longed to make his entire career. With it, he surely sets
the standard for modern day soul troubadours and boasts stunning performances that range from an angelic falsetto on love songs like "Today" to hard-hitting dance floor grooves like "Turn You Out" that show off a raw vocal edge.
It's been almost a decade since Fox Television's "American Idol" television talent competition crowned Studdard its 2003 winner after he pulled 24 million votes and became a household name. In the years since, the Velvet Teddy Bear (as Gladys Knight nicknamed him for his smoothly soothing vocal style) has produced a string of gold and platinum albums, toured as Fats Waller in a national stage tour of "Ain't Misbehavin'," appeared on various television shows, toured in the comedy drama "Heaven I Need A Hug" with Robin Givens
and played a pastor in the Trace Adkins film, "Lifted." Along the way, he's also picked up Grammy and American Music Award nominations and turned out now classic urban radio hits like "Sorry 2004," "Superstar," "Make Ya Feel Beautiful" and "Change Me." He also scored a #1 Gospel hit with "I Need An Angel."
" Always one to give back, Ruben created "The Ruben Studdard Foundation for the Advancement of Children in the Music Arts." Through his foundation, Ruben strives to promote the essential role of the arts in education through learning initiatives for the development of students in the Greater Birmingham Area.
He is also an official spokesperson for "Be Sickle Smart," a nationwide grassroots health-education program aimed at increasing awareness of iron overload among people living with sickle-cell disease. Studdard also created and recently held The Ruben Studdard Celebration Weekend in his home state of Alabama, in which he participated in a half marathon! The former football athlete (he received a scholarship to Alabama A&M University where he studied music) also recently became a vegan. A true musician, Ruben is equally at home in the world of R&B, Gospel, Jazz and Rock. He even has his own rock band called 'Just a Few Cats.'
Jody Watley, a Grammy-winning artist, was ranked by Billboard Magazine in 2016 as one of the Greatest Dance Club Acts of All Time and hailed by Wax Poetics's Dean Van Nguyen as one of music's prominent visionaries. Jody Watley's groundbreaking career as solo artist kicked off with her debut album "Jody Watley" whose chart-topping lead single "Looking for a New Love" launched the Watley-penned catch phrase "Hasta la vista, baby," into pop culture vernacular, garnered the prestigious "Best New Artist" award and countless nominations and hits that have followed over the course of decades in her
career. January 2017 marks the 30th Anniversary of the debut release single and self-titled album. "Who knew writing a song about a guy who had done me wrong would turn out be the beginning of such an incredible journey." she states.
Since her days as the original female lead vocalist of the R&B trio Shalamar departing in 1983; Jody Watley emerged as always ahead of the pop culture curve. As quiet as it's sometimes kept, Jody Watley has been at the forefront of some of the most groundbreaking trends and movements in modern pop culture and serves as the style template for today's women in contemporary music. Jumbo hoop earrings, cutting edge hi low street style, layouts in popular magazines, fashion forward video's and messages of self-empowerment; call it the Jody Watley effect. She made political statements and early LGBTQ and HIV awareness before it was trendy and accepted, music and music video innovation in her own distinct style and message of individuality, she is the place where all those tracks meet. An award winning songwriter, producer and business woman owning her label formed in 1995 Avitone this venerable artist continues to create her own unique path. Not including her original Shalamar days, Jody Watley has six Top 10 Pop singles; thirteen #1 Dance Singles; seven Top 5 R&B Singles; two Top 20 pop albums; 2 Top 10 R&B albums; and a Top 5 R&B album and has charted singles in each decade 80's, 90's 00's and 10's. The video for her 1987 hit "Still a Thrill" was the first time a major pop star showcased waacking, the underground freestyle dance (an even more beat-driven cousin to voguing) that is now a worldwide phenomenon; her classic 1989 cut "Friends" carved the template for both R&B/hip-hop and pop/hip-hop fusions to come, being the first time a rapper (the legendary Rakim, of Eric B. & Rakim) wrote original verses for an R&B/ pop song and it's video-fusing club culture with b-boys, club kids, transgender and drag queens with fashionista's; long before making his mark as a film director, David Fincher (Se7en; Fight Club; Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) cut his artistic teeth on Miss Watley's sleek music video for 1989's smash hit "Real Love," premiering a signature visual style that he would later impart to other pop divas and fine tune for his films; in honor of her visionary fusion of fashion, music, and music videos, Jody Watley was featured in VOGUE Italia's groundbreaking "Black Issue" in 2008 as an homage to opening the door for acceptance between music and fashion in the mainstream with early appearances in starting with her debut in VOGUE, Harper's Bazaar and Rolling Stone and countless magazines around the world. Jody Watley continues with an enduring career that continues to evolve and surprise; showing no signs of slowing down as a recording artist and an international touring star.
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