The 10-time Grammy winner will take his talent to Bloomington on April 6 when he will perform at IU Vocal Jazz Ensembles’ upcoming concert.
IU Vocal Jazz Ensemble I and IUnison, under the direction of Duane Davis and Ly Wilder, will play first, followed by McFerrin’s performance with both the ensembles and the audience, according to a Jacobs School of Music press release.
The concert will take place at 8 p.m. April 6 in the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.
In 1988, McFerrin’s a cappella song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” became a hit. Other career highlights include collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma, Chick Corea and Vienna Philharmonic.
McFerrin is known as a laid-back performer and has walked onto the stage of some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls barefoot, according to the release. He has also encouraged a new generation of a cappella singers as well as the beatbox movement.
“I try not to ‘perform’ onstage,” McFerrin said in the release. “I try to sing the way I sing in my kitchen, because I just can’t help myself. I want audiences to leave the theatre and sing in their own kitchens the next morning. I want to bring audiences into the incredible feeling of joy and freedom I get when I sing.”
He has completed 14 albums, the latest of which is entitled “spirityouall” and is a bluesy, upbeat recording, according to the release.
Coming from a family of singers, McFerrin comes by his talent naturally. His father, Robert McFerrin Sr., was a Metropolitan Opera baritone, and his mother, Sara McFerrin, was a soprano soloist and voice teacher. Bobby McFerrin played clarinet as a child but started his music career as a pianist when he was 14, according to the release.
McFerrin has improvised on national television, sung melodies without words and extemporaneously invented parts for 60,000 choral singers in a stadium in Germany, according to the release.
“I can’t sing everything at once,” McFerrin said in the release. “But I can hint at it so the audience hears even what I don’t sing.”
Kathrine Schulze
