Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra to appear at Phillips Center

January 19, 2007

GAINESVILLE, FL –– Bobby McFerrin is probably best known for his mega-hit, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” But McFerrin is much more than the singer/creator of one of the best-known pop songs of the late-1980s. He is also a vocal innovator, orchestra conductor and impresario of Voicestra, the 12-piece “vocal orchestra,” performing at the University of Florida’s Phillips Center at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 6.

In the late-1970s, McFerrin began singing with the group Astral Project in New Orleans and then toured with jazz vocal pioneer Jon Henricks. He also met Linda Goldstein, a former jazz vocalist turned entrepreneur, who became his manager and frequent producer. The two wanted to put together a career for McFerrin that would mirror the improvised solo piano concerts of Keith Jarrett. Instead of a piano, however, McFerrin would use his voice.

McFerrin and Goldstein’s challenged the conventions of the music world. Audiences didn’t know what to make of an improvisational vocalist. Comedian Bill Cosby arranged for McFerrin to appear at the Playboy Jazz Festival and, a year later, McFerrin appeared at the Kool Jazz Festival in New York. He also released an album of his improvised concerts and toured Europe as an unaccompanied vocalist. At first, audiences were bewildered. Then they were blown away. His European tour earned him the nickname “Stimmwunder” (wonder voice) from the German critics and led to “The Voice,” a compilation album of recordings made at his concerts.

Throughout the 1980s, McFerrin continued his vocal explorations through improvised solo concerts. He recorded “Another Night in Tunisia” with the Manhattan Transfer in 1985, for which he received a Grammy. Other Grammy awards followed for Bernard Tavernier’s “Round Midnight” and “How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin” with actor Jack Nicholson.

McFerrin was a respected vocalist the world over when “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” the infectiously upbeat song created in the studio for his album “Simple Pleasures,” topped the charts and made McFerrin a household name. The album was nominated for a 1988 Grammy for best album of the year and the song won both Record of the Year and the coveted Song of the Year awards.

McFerrin easily could have rested on his newfound pop stardom, churning out more of the same. Instead, he took a sabbatical from the pop vocal world and dipped his toe into the classical music world. He took conducting lessons from some of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, including Leonard Bernstein, Gustav Meier and Seiji Ozawa. The same infectious joy found in his hit “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” carried over into his conducting and in 1990, on his 40th birthday, he was given the opportunity to conduct the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

It was around this same time that McFerrin was inspired to create Voicestra. The impetus for creating the 12-singer group was the one element that McFerrin always thought was the most important when performing: the audience. “My favorite, most inspiring times in concert have always been the impromptu moments on stage when the audience participates,” he says.

Tickets are available by calling the Phillips Center Box Office at (352) 392-2787 or (800) 905-2787 or by calling Ticketmaster at (904) 353-3309. Orders may be faxed to (352) 846-1562. Tickets are also available in person at the Phillips Center Box Office, University Box Office at the University of Florida Reitz Student Union and all Ticketmaster outlets; and on the Web at www.ticketmaster.com.

The Phillips Center Box Office is open from noon to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and two hours before performances.