Artist News

Ramsey Lewis Performs as He’s Feted at Highland Park's Focus On The Arts

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Highland Park High School’s acclaimed biennial arts-immersion program, “Focus on the Arts,” kicks off its 25th anniversary at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 14, with a special event honoring lifelong Chicagoan Ramsey Lewis. The jazz legend himself Read More

John Legend Takes Home 2015 Golden Globe

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John Legend is certainly living up to his surname taking home American Music, BET, Grammy, MOBO and Soul Train awards throughout his music career. Now he's now added a 2015 Golden Globe for Best Original Song for his collaboration with hip hop artist Common for their song "Glory," which appeared in the movie Selma. What will he win next!?

Announcing Concerts with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga

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Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, following the success of their number-one, critically acclaimed album Cheek To Cheek, will perform two concerts together at Ravinia on June 26 and June 27. This will be Lady Gaga’s Ravinia debut and the 28th season Tony Bennett has appeared at the festival, where he first performed in 1984. Both artists will be accompanied by
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20 Feet From Stardom Star Lisa Fischer Says It Rejuvenated her

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You may not know her name, but you know her voice. As documented in the Academy Award–winning film 20 Feet from Stardom, the mutlitalented R&B singer Lisa Fischer has sung backup for everyone from Tina Turner to Nine Inch Nails, and many know her as the growler who steals the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” from Mick Jagger himself. Fischer said the film has given both her outlook and her career a boost. So much so that she is taking center stage at Ravinia on Sept. 10 when she’ll open for blue-eyed-soul star Joss Stone.

Photo by Djeneba Aduayom

Bailey Preps For '80s Tour Playing Thompson Twins Hits At British Club

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His sound helped define an era and supply a new-wave soundtrack to more than a few teen-angst comedies, but Tom Bailey has not performed his old Thompson Twins songs in 27 years. Now that he’s on the ’80s tour “Retro Futura”—an all-synth-pop revue that also features Howard Jones, Ultravox’s Midge Ure, China Crisis and Katrina (ex–Katrina and the Waves)—Bailey took the old tunes out for a spin in preparation for his return to America by playing them to an enthusiastic crowd at the small club Sub89 in Reading, England. Fan video taken at the gig can be found on YouTube.

Get Approved to Foster PAWS Pet and Win Free Billy Corgan Tickets

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Billy Corgan is taking a break from recording two new Smashing Pumpkins albums, due out in 2015, to perform at Ravinia, in his hometown of Highland Park, for the first time on Aug. 30, and anyone who gets approved to foster a pet through PAWS between now and Aug. 27 will receive a free pair of Pavilion tickets to Corgan’s performance. Fostering a pet usually requires just a few weeks of love and care for a sick or abused animal until it is ready to find a permanent place to live. Applications can be filled out online. PAWS will also have a booth set up at Ravinia’s main gate on the day of Corgan’s concert. Guests are encouraged to register here to find out more about PAWS and how they can help.

Carrie Underwood Hosts CMA Awards

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Carrie Underwood is already the queen of country music, but she’s quickly becoming a darling of TV. Her live broadcast of The Sound of Music made international headlines, she has proven an awards-show favorite on such specials as The Grammys, and she’s the big reason to tune in to such TV specials as this week’s CMA Music Festival, billed as “country’s night to rock.”

It’s just been announced that Underwood and Brad Paisley will team up for the seventh time to host the 48th Annual Country Music Awards this fall. Because of their TV chemistry, word is out that Underwood will join Paisley on his forthcoming album as well. In the meantime the superstar returns to Ravinia on Sept. 6 and Sept. 7. 

Nelson Know Depps of Fandom

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When you are a multigenerational icon like Willie Nelson, even your fans have fans—Johnny Depp, instance. The movie star is such a big fan of the country legend that he swashbuckled his way onto the stage at a Boston concert to play guitar with Willie. Come see if any stars come out to play when Willie Nelson and Alison Krauss team up at Ravinia on July 12.

Billy Corgan Gets Greenlit On Behind-The-Scenes Wrestling Show

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Those who don’t know Billy Corgan as the creative force behind The Smashing Pumpkins might recognize him as the Highland Park entrepreneur behind the 1930s-style teahouse Madame ZuZu’s. But it’s his third career that will bring him to television. Corgan is creative director of theChicago-based Resistance Pro wrestling league, and AMC has just given him an eight-part series that lifts the curtain on the popular attraction, showing the creation of wrestling storylines, choreography and behind-the-scenes arguments. The title and airdate of the reality show is not yet announced, but in the meantime, Corgan makes his Ravinia debut in an acoustic evening with Katie Cole on Aug. 30.

Ukulele Master Proves Nerd Cred With Montage Of TV Themes

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The fun-loving Jake Shimabukuro, described by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the best axmen in the world even though he doesn’t play guitar, has already been labeled a “ukulele hero” by the media. And now he’s labeled himself a nerd in this viral video that has the artist strumming out TV and movie theme songs on the instrument he helped to make popular again. Shimabukuro returns to Ravinia Aug. 1 to open for Lyle Lovett.

Do The Math: Five For Fighting Equals One

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Anyone who listens to contemporary radio knows that Five for Fighting is responsible for the hits “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” and “100 Years,” but can anyone name all five musicians? Nope. It’s a trick question. Five for Fighting is a one-man band, less well-known as Vladimir John Ondrasik III. The singer-songwriter, a huge fan of the L.A. Kings, adopted the hockey penalty term as his stage name. But when Ondrasik returns to Ravinia on Sept. 14, he won’t be alone. He’ll perform his hits with a 30-piece symphony orchestra.

Documentary Explores Life Of Grateful Dead's "Other One"

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Documentarian Mike Fleiss admits in Rolling Stone magazine that he was nervous about breaking the news to Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir that he wanted to title the film he was making about the singer-songwriter The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir. The filmmaker behind God Bless Ozzie Osbourne worried that suggesting Weir was second to the late Jerry Garcia might upset his subject, hurt his feelings or otherwise harsh his mellow. Nothing doing. Weir immediately embraced the title, and the documentary, which is expecting a release date soon, opened to rave reviews in April at the Tribeca Film Festival. Bob Weir and RatDog make their Ravinia debut on Aug. 31, joined by Dwight Yoakam.

Is Ryan Tedder the "Undercover King of Pop"?

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The front man of popular rock group OneRepublic, Ryan Tedder, might just be music's most prolific writer/producer today. There’s no avoiding Tedder’s mark on the airwaves with just in past six months charting Hot 100 hits for Maroon 5 (“Love Somebody”), Ellie Goulding (“Burn”), Demi Lovato (“Neon Lights”), Beyoncé (“XO”) and the Fray (“Love Don’t Die”) in addition to the impressive run One Republic’s “Counting Stars” is making. Tedder’s journey to becoming “The Undercover King of Pop” is the cover story of the most recent issue of Billboard Magazine that hit shelves last week.

Don’t forget tickets go on sale to the public on April 24 at 5 a.m. for OneRepublic’s back-to-back performances at Ravinia on June 18 and 19 as well as all other Ravinia concerts.

NPR Gives Early Listen To New St. Vincent Album

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Less than 36 hours after getting home at the end of her 'Love This Giant' tour with the legendary David Byrne which came through Ravinia last summer, Annie Erin Clark better known by her stage name St. Vincent, starting penning her new album. Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton, co-hosts of NPR Music's All Songs Considered, have a special treat for us this week, as they give us a first listen and discuss the new album! St. Vincent's eponymous album comes out next week. Check it out and let us know what you think.

http://www.npr.org/2014/02/21/280528565/first-listen-st-vincents-latest-album

 

Just Announced: Willie Nelson & Alison Krauss Coming To Ravinia July 12

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Grammy-winners Willie Nelson and Alison Krauss & Union Station Featuring Jerry Douglas kick off a 35-city tour together for the first time and make a stop at Ravinia set for July 12, 2014. They will be joined by special guest singer/songwriter Jason Isbell. Nelson performed to a sold-out audience at Ravinia last summer, and Krauss most recently performed here in a sold-out concert with Robert Plant. The complete Ravinia season will be announced on Feb. 27 at Ravinia.org.

Lang Lang to Join Metallica on Grammy Stage

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Theres something new to look forward to at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards later this month. Metallica, celebrating the 25th anniversary of being the first hard rock band to ever take the Grammy stage, will perform alongside internationally renowned pianist (and Ravinia favorite) Lang Lang. Will we see a heavy metal Lang Lang, a classical Metallica, or something inbetween? We're already sitting on the edge of our seats waiting! The Grammys will air on January 26 on CBS. Check your local listings for times.

David Byrne Takes On Peter Gabriel's "I Don't Remember"

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In 2010, Peter Gabriel released the first of a two part album collection, Scratch my Back. In this first album, Peter Gabriel lays an open invitation to his contemporaries David Bowie, Paul Simon, David Bryne and the Talking Heads, and Neil Young; and some of his successors Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, and Regina Spektor. Just over three years later the full-length second part to the collection, And I'll Scratch Yours, is released featuring many of the artists Gabriel covered in Scratch my Back. Recent 2013 artist David Bryne leads off the album with his unique take on Peter Gabriel's "I Dont Remember." NPR Music has a exclusive first listen of both albums available for a limited time here. What do you think of this experiment?

OneRepublic Returns in 2014

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We are happy to announce the return of OneRepublic as part of the Native Summer Tour with The Script, making its debut, as part of OneRepublic's headline tour Native Summer Tour during the our “Summer of Love/Season of Stars” 2014 season on Wednesday, June 18, and Thursday, June 19. Tickets to these events and all Ravinia summer concerts go on sale to donors on March 5 and to the public on April 24, exclusively at Ravinia.org.