Chaka Khan, Stephanie Mills, Culture Club and More Set for NJPAC This Summer

Get ready for a spectacular summer at New Jersey Performance Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark, New Jersey announces new shows!

See Ten-time Grammy Award winner and international icon Chaka Khan ("Ain't Nobody," "I Feel for You") with special guest, Grammy Award winner and Broadway star Stephanie Mills "Never Knew Love Like This Before" "Home" perform Sunday, May 31 at 7PM. On Saturday, June 6th at 8PM it's acclaimed fado-singer, Nathalie Pires with special guest Danças Ocultas. Don't miss internationally acclaimed, multi-platinum selling Boy George and Culture Club have announced its first North American tour in 14 years with all four original members and included NJPAC as one of the first venues on their tour on Tuesday, August 4, 2015. Reserve your tickets for these two great shows now at NJPAC.org or by calling 888.GO.NJPAC (888.466.5722).

About Chaka Khan

Chaka Khan is one of the world's most gifted and celebrated musicians, with a rich musical legacy, the 10-time GRAMMY Award-winner is looking forward to a celebration of a lifetime. A songwriter, actor, author, philanthropist, entrepreneur and activist, Chaka Khan has influenced generations of recording artists. She has the rare ability to sing in seven music genres, including R&B, pop, rock, gospel, country, world music and classical. Affectionately known around the world as Chaka, she is revered by millions of fans as well as her peers for her timeless, classic and unmatched signature music style and ability. The late, great Miles Davis often said, "She [Chaka] sings like my horn." And the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin says, "[Chaka] is a one- of- a -kind, premier vocalist."

Throughout her legendary career, Chaka has released 22 albums and racked up ten #1 Billboard magazine charted songs, seven RIAA certified gold singles and ten RIAA certified gold and platinum albums. Chaka's recorded music has produced over 2,000 catalogue song placements. "I am honored and blessed to celebrate 40 years in music and entertainment," says Chaka. "I am so humbled by the love, support and gracious spirit of my fans worldwide and the continuous support my peers have shown over the years. Throughout my 40-year career, I have been through the fire a few times over and I'm still here as a living testament to God's love and grace. Next year, I will be celebrating 40 years in the business and 60 years on earth, which equals one hundred percent Chaka."

About Stephanie Mills

Stephanie Mills first came to fame as "the little girl with the big voice" as the star of the hit Broadway play, The Wiz, an adaptation of L. Frank Baum's classic book, The Wizard of Oz. She had many R&B hits such as "I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love," "I Feel Good All Over," "(You're Puttin') A Rush on Me," "Something in the Way (You Make Me Feel)," and "Home," along with one certified, million-selling single, "Never Knew Love Like This Before." In addition, she also had five gold albums: Whatcha Gonna Do with My Lovin', Sweet Sensation, Stephanie, If I Were Your Woman, and Home.

Brooklyn raised, Mills honed her rich vocals singing gospel music at Brooklyn's Cornerstone Baptist Church as a small child. At age nine, she began appearing in the Broadway play Maggie Flynn. She was presented with first prize after winning "The Amateur Hour" talent contest six weeks straight at New York's famed Apollo Theater when she was nine. That success led to her being chosen as the opening act for the Isley Brothers, eventually becoming good friends with lead singer Ronald Isley. Many years later, Isley would manage and later marry singer/songwriter Angela Winbush, who co-wrote one of her number one R&B hits. Mills' debut album, Movin' in the Right Direction was recorded for ABC Records in 1974. A year later, she won the role of Dorothy in The Wiz. Her rendition of the beautiful ballad "Home" is still a showstopper, mesmerizing audiences nightly.

About Nathalie Pires

Almost like by the mystery of its origins, fado comes into little Nathalie's life, which still cannot explain if fado elected her, or was that thirteen-year-old girl who elected fado. What is perfectly clear is that from the time she was accompanied by a Portuguese guitar for the first time, fado took over her voice and her senses, a fado-singer was born, and immediately began to be noticed by the bright tone of her voice, stage presence, and the feelings transmitted every time she sang the beautiful songs of traditional fado, quickly becoming a serious case of popularity among the Portuguese communities in the United States of America. In her artistic career recorded her first album, "Corre-me O Fado Nas Veias" (Fado Runs In My Veins), which was awarded with the AUA (United Artists of America), " Lusíada Award" for "Best Fado Album of 2007" recorded in the USA.

In the several hundred performances in some of the most prestigious venues in the USA, highlight 'Carnegie Hall', the 'Kennedy Center for The Performing Arts' in Washington DC', 'United Nations' in New York', Boston State House' in Boston Massachusetts', 'NY Red Bull Arena' in Harrison New Jersey', 'BAM Brooklyn Academy Of Music' in Brooklyn New York', 'Central Park' in New York, 'International Portuguese Music Awards at the Zeiterion Theatre' in New Bedford Massachusetts', 'NY Botanical Garden' in Bronx New York', 'Philadelphia Museum of Art' in Philadelphia Pennsylvania', 'W Hotel - Union Square' in New York', 'NYC Drom' with the band 'Fado in Si Bemol', '( le ) Poisson Rouge', 'in New York, accompanied by the 'Manhattan Camerata', among many others venues of equal importance.

About Danças Ocultas

The diatonic accordion (named as 'concertina' in Portugal) is an instrument created in the first half of XIX century, later worked to perfection, by several European instrument makers and today it echoes memories coming from a different musical ambience: a time before the record and the radio inventions. But it continues being a 'dream machine' ready to invent possible futures and making senses.

In May 1989, Artur Fernandes, Filipe Cal, Filipe Ricardo and Francisco Miguel had a dream to look for and worked their musical performance skills meanwhile they studied the possibilities of taking this instrument away from folklore music ways, accepting what then was known as " the concertina will", but writing a new music for it. This was the time that led the band to its name and to its first record, Danças Ocultas (1996), with a repertory on which predominate Artur Fernandes compositions.

After that, came a adventuring time, less ingenuous and more artistic, resulting from the continuous contacts with other performers, from experiences on stage, from the first travels and partnerships, motivating the change of the group into a sharing creativity nucleus and leading to the recording of "Ar" the second record which affirms the beginning of a self musical grammar and shows some technical innovations like the use of a specially built "bass concertina".

About Culture Club

The internationally acclaimed, multi-platinum selling Boy George and Culture Club have announced its first North American tour in 14 years with all four original members. The iconic foursome, Boy George (lead vocals), Mikey Craig (bass guitar), Roy Hay (guitar and keyboards) and Jon Moss (drums and percussion), will perform all of their greatest hits plus new songs from its forthcoming fall release, "Tribes."

Culture Club has sold in excess of 100 million singles and over 50 million albums, and was one of the biggest pop bands of the 1980s. The Grammy Award winning group catapulted into the charts with such hit songs as "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me", "I'll Tumble 4 Ya", and "Karma Chameleon."

Last week, Boy George was featured as a mentor on the popular Fox Television show American Idol.

New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), located in downtown Newark, New Jersey, is among the largest performing arts centers in the United States and is the artistic, cultural, educational and civic center of New Jersey -- where great performances and events enhance and transform lives every day. As New Jersey's Town Square, NJPAC brings diverse communities together, providing access to all and showcasing the State's and the world's best artists while acting as a leading catalyst in the revitalization of its home city. Through its extensive Arts Education programs, NJPAC is shaping the next generation of artists and arts enthusiasts. NJPAC has attracted over eight million visitors (including more than one million children) since opening its doors in 1997, and nurtures meaningful and lasting relationships with each of its constituents.

Visit www.njpac.org or call 888.GO.NJPAC for more information. Get Social! Find @NJPAC on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and use #NJPACmusic for updates, photos and more.

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