Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae will perform Sunday, Sept. 24, presented by the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center. She will be joined by special guest Jon Muq.
Tickets to the 6 p.m. performance are $39, $49 and $59. Visit AlysStephens.org or call 205-975-2787 for tickets. A limited number of discounted tickets are available for UAB employees and students.
Bailey Rae shot to stardom with her self-titled No. 1 U.K. debut album in 2006, featuring the global hits “Put Your Records On” and “Like A Star.” She has released three critically acclaimed studio albums: “Corinne Bailey Rae,” “The Sea” and “The Heart Speaks in Whispers.” Bailey Rae has earned two Grammy Awards and two MOBO Awards, and has been nominated for many others, including BRIT and BET awards and Mercury Music Prize.
Her years-in-the-making “Black Rainbows” project is inspired by the objects and artworks collected by Theaster Gates at the Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago, Illinois. The work includes a collection of songs, a book, “Refraction/Reflection of the Arts Bank” photographed by Koto Bolofo, live performances, visuals, lectures and exhibitions — a bold move from her previous work.
Wide ranging in its themes, the subjects in “Black Rainbows” are drawn from encounters with objects in the Arts Bank, a curated collection of Black archives comprising books, sculpture, records, furniture and problematic objects from America’s past, according to her artist’s statement. The album is set for release Sept. 15 via Thirty Tigers, and the first single, the powerful “New York Transit Queen,” is out now. Stereoboard.com wrote of “New York Transit Queen,” “Melding punk with her own soul-pop styling, the track ushers in a new era of music for the singer-songwriter, introducing a new riot grrrl-influenced sound.”
Bailey Rae has collaborated with artists including Mary J. Blige, Al Green, Herbie Hancock, Paul McCartney, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Questlove, RZA, Tyler The Creator, Stevie Wonder, Tracey Thorn, Pharrell and many more.