2002

1/25/2002

An Evening with Natalie Cole: Washington Center for the Performing Arts, 512 Washington Ave. S.E., Olympia; gala reception at 6 p.m., performance 8 p.m.; $24.50-$8.25; 360-753-8585

 

 

1/30/2002

NATALIE COLE SIGNS TO VERVE RECORDS;
PR Newswire   01-30-2002

DEAL REUNITES COLE WITH TOMMY LIPUMA, PRODUCER OF HER GROUNDBREAKING
'UNFORGETTABLE'



NEW YORK, JAN. 30 /PRNEWSWIRE/ -- THE VERVE MUSIC GROUP HAS ANNOUNCED THAT

LEGENDARY SONGSTRESS NATALIE COLE HAS SIGNED TO VERVE RECORDS. THE DEAL

REUNITES COLE WITH THE VERVE MUSIC GROUP'S CHAIRMAN, TOMMY LIPUMA, WHO

PRODUCED HER GROUNDBREAKING 1991 RELEASE "UNFORGETTABLE."

COLE AND LIPUMA ARE CURRENTLY PUTTING THE FINISHING TOUCHES ON COLE'S

VERVE DEBUT, WHICH IS SCHEDULED FOR A FALL 2002 RELEASE.

"WORKING WITH TOMMY AGAIN IS LIKE RETURNING HOME," COMMENTED COLE. "HE IS

SO GOOD WITH THIS KIND OF MUSIC. I FEEL VERY FORTUNATE THAT HE REALLY

UNDERSTANDS WHAT I DO, WHICH IS EVIDENCED BY 'UNFORGETTABLE' AND THE NEW

ALBUM. WE HAVE GROWN TOGETHER AND WE ARE VERY COMPATIBLE. I AM LOOKING

FORWARD TO MORE GREAT WORK WITH TOMMY AND VERVE," SHE SAID OF HER MOVE TO THE

STORIED LABEL, HOME OF SUCH GREATS AS ELLA FITZGERALD AND SARAH VAUGHAN.

"IT IS AN HONOR TO WORK WITH NATALIE AGAIN AFTER ALL THESE YEARS," SAID

TOMMY LIPUMA, CHAIRMAN, THE VERVE MUSIC GROUP. HE CONTINUED, "I AM THRILLED

THAT SHE HAS JOINED THE VERVE FAMILY AND THAT SHE WILL BE CONTINUING IN THE

GREAT TRADITION OF VOCALISTS THAT HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A CORNERSTONE OF VERVE

RECORDS."

SINCE WINNING THE BEST NEW ARTIST GRAMMY(R) IN 1975 FOR HER DEBUT ALBUM,

"INSEPARABLE," NATALIE COLE HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST RECOGNIZED VOICES IN

POPULAR MUSIC. THROUGHOUT HER MORE THAN 25 YEARS IN THE BUSINESS, COLE HAS

CREATED SUCH MEMORABLE SONGS AS "THIS WILL BE," "OUR LOVE," AND "MISS YOU LIKE

CRAZY." SHE HAS EARNED NUMEROUS AWARDS, INCLUDING EIGHT GRAMMYS(R), AND

COUNTLESS GOLD AND PLATINUM ALBUM CERTIFICATIONS.

BUT PERHAPS COLE IS BEST KNOWN FOR THE LIPUMA-PRODUCED "UNFORGETTABLE,"

WHICH EARNED SIX GRAMMY(R) AWARDS, INCLUDING ALBUM OF THE YEAR, AND HAS SOLD

OVER 14 MILLION UNITS WORLDWIDE.



PICTURED AT NEW YORK CITY'S AVATAR STUDIOS, FROM LEFT TO RIGHT (STANDING):

NATALIE COLE; DAN CLEARY, NATALIE COLE'S MANAGER, DAN CLEARY MANAGEMENT

ASSOCIATES; RON GOLDSTEIN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, THE VERVE MUSIC GROUP. SEATED:

TOMMY LIPUMA, CHAIRMAN, THE VERVE MUSIC GROUP.

(PHOTO: HTTP://WWW.NEWSCOM.COM/CGI-BIN/PRNH/20020130/LAW078 )



WWW.VERVEMUSICGROUP.COM



MAKE YOUR OPINION COUNT - CLICK HERE

HTTP://TBUTTON.PRNEWSWIRE.COM/PRN/11690X98350626



SOURCE THE VERVE MUSIC GROUP


Contact: REGINA JOSKOW DUNTON OF THE VERVE MUSIC GROUP, +1-212-331-2053,
REGINA.JOSKOW@UMUSIC.COM; OR JENNIFER ALLEN OF PMK, +1-310-289-6200,
JENNIFER.ALLEN@PMKHBH.COM, FOR THE VERVE MUSIC GROUP, PHOTO:
NEWSCOM: HTTP://WWW.NEWSCOM.COM/CGI-BIN/PRNH/20020130/LAW078
AP ARCHIVE: HTTP://PHOTOARCHIVE.AP.ORG
PRN PHOTO DESK, +1-888-776-6555 OR +1-212-782-2840, WEB
SITE: HTTP://WWW.VERVEMUSICGROUP.COM /

 

 

2/2/2002

TONY BENNETT "PLAYIN' WITH MY FRIENDS: BENNETT SINGS THE BLUES" (COLUMBIA); Bill White Of The Morning Call
Allentown Morning Call   02-02-2002

TONY BENNETT "PLAYIN' WITH MY FRIENDS: BENNETT SINGS THE BLUES" (COLUMBIA)
Byline: Bill White Of The Morning Call
Edition: FIRST
Section: ENTERTAINMENT
Type: DISC REVIEWS

BLUES Tony Bennett doesn't really fit my image of a blues singer. He's a 74-year-old white guy in a tuxedo. But with a lot of help from his "friends," and typical Bennett enthusiasm, he turns out a winner on his late 2001 disc. This is no old warhorse cranking another by- the-numbers album out for a quick buck. He's having fun, and even when he feels a little out of place, you're inclined to make allowances. The strongest cuts on "Playin' With My Friends," not surprisingly, are the ones where he collaborates with his heavyweight duet companions, who include B.B. King, Ray Charles, Bonnie Raitt, k.d. lang, Kay Starr (who's even older than Tony), Stevie Wonder, Diana Krall and Natalie Cole. The first single is a bluesy version of "New York State of Mind" with Billy Joel, but my favorite cut is Bennett's collaboration with Sheryl Crow on "Good Morning Heartache," in which Crow channels Billie Holliday in an achingly bruised voice that was a revelation for me. Also worth special mention are Wonder's harmonica solo on "Everyday (I Have the Blues)" and Bennett's duets with King ("Let the Good Times Roll"), Charles ("Evenin"') and Cole ("Stormy Weather"). To cap it off, they all get together for the rollicking title tune. Let the good times roll.

Bill White

Illustrations/Photos:
PHOTO by UNKNOWN;
Caption: TONY BENNETT ... let the good times roll.

(Copyright 2002)

2/12/2002

CORRECTION;
Morning Star (Wilmington)   02-13-2002

CORRECTION
Section: Front Page

Tickets to the Natalie Cole concert during the N.C. Azalea Festival are $40. There will be an additional $5 processing fee per order, not per ticket. An article in Tuesday's Today section misstated the ticket price.

Morning Star
Category: Lifestyle

Published: 02/12/2002

Page: 1D, 2D

Keywords: Natalie Cole; Azalea Festival

CORRECTION DATE: 02/13/2002

CORRECTION: Tickets to the Natalie Cole concert during the N.C. Azalea Festival are $40. There will be an additional $5 processing fee per order, not per ticket. An article in Tuesday's Today section misstated the ticket price.

Natalie Cole to perform at Azalea Festival

Byline: By Amanda Greene, Staff Writer

This year's Azalea Festival concert will feature the daughter of an Unforgettable jazz singer.

Natalie Cole will be the featured performer for the 2002 festival concert at 8 p.m. April 4 at Trask Coliseum on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Tickets will be $45 and order forms are available on the festival Web site at www.ncazaleafestival.org as well as in the Star-News today and Sunday.

Ms. Cole's upcoming visit to the Port City was announced at a news conference at the Azalea Festival office at 10 a.m. Monday. Her concert will be the first night of the 55th annual festival, which runs April 4-7 this year.

"We're so pleased to have a nine-time Grammy Award-winning artist because we've been negotiating several months to get her here," Paula Lentz, Azalea Festival president, said.

Ms. Cole is the daughter of Nat "King" Cole, a smooth big band singer of the 1940s and 1950s. She made her debut singing on Mr. Cole's Christmas album in 1975 and earned her first gold record and two Grammy awards two years later with Inseparable.

But she likely is best known for her multi-platinum tribute to her father in Unforgettable, With Love, which sold 14 million copies. With the aide of technology, she was able to sing a duet of Unforgettable with her father on the album.

More than 20 albums later, Ms. Cole still is going strong in both her personal and professional lives. In October, she married Bishop Kenneth Dupree, and her autobiography, Angel on My Shoulder, was released in November. If you want to learn more about her life, VH1 will air a Behind the Music special and Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story back-to-back at noon and 1 p.m. Friday.

 

2/27/2002

Musicians sing out for Billy Joel and charity; Steve Jones
USA Today   02-27-2002

LOS ANGELES -- Billy Joel was in a buoyant mood Monday after being serenaded with his own songs at the Century Park Plaza Hotel -- and being honored as MusiCares' person of the year.

The annual pre-Grammy charity event, hosted by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, featured performances by Stevie Wonder, Rob Thomas, Garth Brooks, Natalie Cole, Melissa Etheridge, Nelly Furtado, Tony Bennett, Don Henley, Diana Krall, and Jon Bon Jovi with bandmate Richie Sambora. NARAS president/CEO Michael Greene said the evening's event, attended largely by industry types, raised "$2 million and counting" for MusiCares, which provides medical and financial help for musicians in need.