'A Whole New World' singer Peabo Bryson to hold concert tour in the Philippines
MANILA, Philippines — Grammy Award winner Peabo Bryson is set to hold his Philippine concert tour in Manila on July 19 in New Frontier Theater in Quezon City, and in Cebu on July 21 in Waterfront Hotel and in Davao on July 23 in SMX Convention Center.
Produced by Ovation Productions, ticket selling will start on May 31.
Bryson has established a career as one of the premier male vocalists in contemporary music of the last quarter century. His first break came during a recording session at Atlanta’s Bullet/Bang Records. The young singer caught the ear of the label’s then-general manager, Eddie Biscoe. Biscoe signed Bryson to a contract as a writer, producer, and arranger and encouraged Bryson to perform his own songs.
For several years Bryson worked with hometown bands and wrote and produced for Bang. In 1976, he released his debut LP, “Peabo." The project featured Peabo composing nearly all of the songs (some with the great Thom Bell), a young Luther Vandross among the background vocalists, and sexy black film star Tamara “Cleopatra Jones” Dobson showing him love on the back jacket.
Bryson moved to Capitol Records in 1978, where his album “Reaching for the Sky” went gold, and the title track was a number six R&B hit. With his LP “Crosswinds” (gold,1978), he truly penetrated the hearts of soul fans everywhere with the title tracks “Feel the Fire” and “I’m So Into You”, which spent two weeks as the nation’s number two R&B hit. He was paired with Capitol label-mate Natalie Cole for the 1979 project “We’re the Best of Friends” and a year later with Roberta Flack for the double-LP “Live & More” (on Atlantic Records). He delivered four more albums for Capitol before making a second, even bigger album with Flack titled “Born to Love,” a gold seller that featured the smash “Tonight I Celebrate My Love” (Top 5 R&B and #16 Pop). That led him to sign a deal with Elektra Records for four albums, the second of which, “Take No Prisoners”, featured the crossover smash “If Ever You’re In My Arms Again” (Top 10 Pop and Top 10 R&B).
New York Times music critic Jon Pareles called Bryson the “Pavarotti of soul singers.” His duets with Natalie Cole – “What You Won’t Do for Love” – and Roberta Flack – “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love,” a Top 15 pop smash – had earned Bryson the tag “King of Balladeers.” With “If Ever You’re in My Arms Again,” which landed in the Number 10 spot on the pop charts, he scored another crossover hit and solidified his mainstream audience. Both “Tonight” and “If” went to Number One on the adult contemporary charts. A return to Capitol in 1989 for the album “All My Love” earned him his first R&B #1 single with a remake of the late Al Wilson’s “Show & Tell” (a song he proudly keeps the torch lit for in all his shows). He hit the R&B chart-top a second time with the smash “Can You Stop The Rain,” the title track of his R&B chart-topping first of two albums for Columbia Records. The single won Bryson a 1991 Grammy nomination for best R&B vocal performance by a male, as did “Lost in the Night” in 1992.
But it was two songs for Disney animated films that earned Bryson his two Grammys. The first was 1991’s “Beauty and the Beast” with international pop singer Celine Dion which was a number one pop hit. The very next year, Bryson struck gold again receiving another Grammy for “A Whole New World (Aladdin’s Theme)” from Aladdin which he performed with Regina Belle. Both “Beauty and the Beast” (1991) and “A Whole New World” (1992) won Oscars for “Best Song.” Since these milestones, he has been even more sought after as a guest vocalist and duet partner, resulting in his collaborations with Tony Award-winner Lea Salonga on “We Kiss in the Shadows” (#1 on the Classical Crossover chart from a new recording of “The King and I” score), Melissa Manchester’s “Lovers After All”, and Kenny G’s “By The Time This Night is Over” (from the chart topping Contemporary Jazz CD, “Breathless”), which enjoyed a three month run on the Hot 100 in 1993. In June of 1993, Bryson sold out seven consecutive shows at Radio City Music Hall.
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