Gregory Porter Is Coming To The Detroit Opera House December 22

Gregory Porter announces his first-ever holiday album, plus a stop on his tour in Detroit! Don’t miss Gregory Porter live at the Detroit Opera House on Friday, December 22. Tickets go on sale Friday, September 29 at 10:00 a.m. and can be purchased online at BroadwayInDetroit.com and in person at the Detroit Opera House box office and the Fisher Theatre box office starting at noon. Patrons can sign up for presale access at GregoryPorter.com.

With his customary class, elegance, and sophistication, GRAMMY-winning singer-songwriter Gregory Porter today announces his first-ever Christmas album, to be released on November 3 via Blue Note/Decca Records. Entitled Christmas Wish it is a loving tribute to his favorite time of year – and to great songwriters, singers, and interpreters including Stevie Wonder, Ella Fitzgerald, Marvin Gaye, Dinah Washington, and Nat King Cole. In addition to this list of world class names, Porter himself has added to the Christmas songbook with three original tracks, soon to be favorites for the festive season, including the first single “Everything’s Not Lost” which is out now.

Backed by his long-time band and produced by repeat collaborator Troy Miller, the album features inspired interpretations of carols, standards, and soulful sixties deep-cuts including “Silent Night,” “Little Drummer Boy,” Marvin Gaye’s “Purple Snowflakes,” Stevie Wonder’s “Someday At Christmas,” and Frank Loesser’s “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?,” which features a special guest appearance by GRAMMY-winning vocalist Samara Joy.

The theme of sharing and caring at Christmas, and the sense of renewal and revival that comes when the year draws to a close, is all here in Porter’s most personal contribution – his trio of new, self-penned songs, “Christmas Wish,” “Heart For Christmas,” and “Everything’s Not Lost,” an elegant piano ballad that is Porter’s persuasive plea to remember those less fortunate than ourselves. “I'm always thinking of balance” he explains. “That has been instilled in me and it keeps coming up in a lot of my music. At your highest, at your greatest, at your most pleasant time, don't forget about other people who are suffering.”

Christmas Wish features Porter’s longtime pianist Chip Crawford on piano, Emmanuel Harrold on drums and percussion, Gregoire Maret on harmonica, Jahmal Nichols on bass, Ondre Pivec on Hammond organ, Tivon Pennicott on flute, soprano saxophone, and tenor saxphone, and backing vocals by Stephanie Fisher-Alvarenga, Chris Ashley Anthony, and Sheherazade Holman with orchestral contributions from the Kingdom Orchestra. The album was recorded between Sear Sound Studio in New York City and London’s Crossways Studio and Abbey Road Studios.

TRACKLIST

1. Silent Night

2. Christmas Waltz

3. Everything’s Not Lost

4. Someday at Christmas

5. Purple Snowflakes

6. Little Drummer Boy

7. What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve? feat. Samara Joy

8. Christmas Wish

9. Cradle in Bethlehem

10. Do You Hear What I Hear?

11. Christmas Time is Here

12. Heart for Christmas

Gregory Porter – TOUR DATES:

Oct. 5 – Arena Theatre – Houston, TX

Oct. 6 – Bruton Theater at The Black Academy Of Arts And Letters – Dallas, TX

Oct. 8 – Los Cabos Jazz Festival – Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Dec. 5 – Mitsubishi Electric Halle – Dusseldorf, Germany

Dec. 6 – Messe Und Congress Centrum Halle Münsterland – Münster, Germany

Dec. 8 – Musik Und Kongresshalle Lübeck – Lübeck, Germany

Dec. 9 – Elbphilharmonie - Grosser Saa – Hamburg, Germany

Dec. 12 – Kauno Žalgirio Arena – Kaunas, Lithuania

Dec. 13 – Royal Albert Hall – London, UK

Dec. 15 – Alexela Kontserdimaja – Tallinn, Estonia

Dec. 16 – Alte Oper – Frankfurt , Germany

Dec. 20 – Saenger Theatre – New Orleans, LA

Dec. 21 – Fox Theatre – Atlanta, GA

Dec. 22 – Detroit Opera House – Detroit, MI

Dec. 31 – The Kennedy Center – Washington DC

Acclaimed singer and songwriter Gregory Porter was raised in Bakersfield, California, and he cites the Bakersfield Southern Gospel sound, as well as his mother’s Nat King Cole record collection, as fundamental influences on his own sound. Porter began singing in small jazz clubs in San Diego while attending San Diego State University on a football scholarship. Eventually Porter moved to New York City to pursue music full-time and his career began to ascend with the release of his first two albums—Water (2010) and Be Good (2012)—both of which received GRAMMY nominations. In 2013, he released his breakout Blue Note debut Liquid Spirit which quickly grew into a global phenomenon, selling more than a million albums and earning Porter his first GRAMMY Award with NPR declaring him “America’s Next Great Jazz Singer.” His 2016 follow-up Take Me To The Alley won Porter his second GRAMMY for Best Vocal Jazz Album and firmly established him as his generation’s most soulful jazz singer-songwriter. In 2017, Porter released the heartfelt tribute album Nat King Cole & Me, and in 2020 returned to his original songwriting on the uplifting ALL RISE, both of which received GRAMMY nominations. His 2021 release Still Rising collected new songs, covers, duets, and a selection of his much-loved favorite songs. Porter has hosted the podcast The Hang, a conversation series featuring his famous friends, as well as his own cooking show The PorterHouse, in which the singer shared recipes inspired by his local community, experiences from touring the globe, and family cooking traditions from growing up with his mother and seven siblings.

Gregory Porter is coming to the Detroit Opera House on Friday, December 22 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets start at $49 and go on sale Friday, September 29 at 10:00 a.m. Tickets can be purchased online at BroadwayInDetroit.com and in person at the Detroit Opera House box office and the Fisher Theatre box office starting at noon.

Tickets are available now for groups of 10 or more by calling Group Sales at 313-871-1132 or emailing broadwayindetroitgroups@theambassadors.com

Performance schedule, prices and cast are subject to change without notice. Broadway In Detroit urges patrons to use caution when purchasing tickets online through a site other than BroadwayInDetroit.com. Individual tickets purchased from a ticket broker or “third party” ticket reseller involves risk and may not be authentic, sold at box office prices, or with correct performance. and venue information. Broadway In Detroit box offices cannot verify tickets sold through a third party or ticket reseller. Broadway In Detroit is also unable to contact third party purchasers with pertinent updates or changes regarding performances.

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