TWO-time Grammy winner and Living Legend Trumpet awardee Peabo Bryson is set to hold his Philippine concert tour 2023 in Manila on July 19 at the New Frontier Theater, in Cebu on July 21 at the Waterfront Hotel, and in Davao on July 23 at SMX Convention Center.
Robert Peabo Bryson has established a career as one of the premier male vocalists in contemporary music of the last quarter century. Bryson’s 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).
Peabo 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).
It was two songs for Disney animated films that earned Peabo 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, Peabo 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”).
Demonstrating his skills as an actor, he appeared in the lead role for the touring production of the Tony Award-winning “Raisin” (based on “Raisin In The Sun”) and in the role of The Wizard in a touring company of “The Wiz.” In 1998, he appeared in the Michigan Opera Theater’s 100th anniversary production of Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” and recorded two songs for the soundtrack for the “Barney” movie, one of which, the Bryson-produced “Dreams,” became the lead song for the album.
In late 2005 Peabo released “Live in Concert: Ladies’ Request” in association with Time-Life, for whom he has been the spokesman for their soul retrospective collection.
Peabo Bryson’s Philippine Tour 2023 is promoted and produced by Ovation Productions.
Tickets for the Manila concert are available at TICKETNET.com.ph. Ticket selling for Cebu and Davao will start on June 4, available at SMTICKETS.com.
