Lehman Center for the Performing Arts continues its eclectic 31st season with the “King of Latin Soul,” JOE BATAAN, whose magnificent voice and unique style of music have made him a global legend. Also performing will be one of the greatest Philly-soul groups of their era, BLUE MAGIC, whose string of soul hits include “We're On the Right Track,” “What's Come Over Me,” “Just Don't Want to Be Lonely” and “Spell.” The concert, on Saturday, June 23, 2012 at 8pm, is produced by Mario A. Torres Productions in association with Lehman Center.
Lehman Center for the Performing Arts is on the campus of Lehman College/CUNY at 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West, Bronx, NY 10468. Tickets for A NIGHT OF REMEMBRANCE featuring JOE BATAAN and BLUE MAGIC on Saturday, June 23, 2012 at 8pmare $50, $45, and $35 and can be purchased by calling the Lehman Center box office at 718.960.8833 (Monday through Friday, 10am–5pm and beginning at 12 noon on the day of the concert), or through 24-hour online access at www.LehmanCenter.org. Lehman Center is accessible by #4 or D train to Bedford Park Blvd. and is off the Saw Mill River Parkway and the Major Deegan Expressway. Low-cost on-site parking is available for $5....
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Lehman Center for the Performing Arts continues its eclectic 31st season with the “King of Latin Soul,” JOE BATAAN, whose magnificent voice and unique style of music have made him a global legend. Also performing will be one of the greatest Philly-soul groups of their era, BLUE MAGIC, whose string of soul hits include “We're On the Right Track,” “What's Come Over Me,” “Just Don't Want to Be Lonely” and “Spell.” The concert, on Saturday, June 23, 2012 at 8pm, is produced by Mario A. Torres Productions in association with Lehman Center.
Lehman Center for the Performing Arts is on the campus of Lehman College/CUNY at 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West, Bronx, NY 10468. Tickets for A NIGHT OF REMEMBRANCE featuring JOE BATAAN and BLUE MAGIC on Saturday, June 23, 2012 at 8pmare $50, $45, and $35 and can be purchased by calling the Lehman Center box office at 718.960.8833 (Monday through Friday, 10am–5pm and beginning at 12 noon on the day of the concert), or through 24-hour online access at www.LehmanCenter.org. Lehman Center is accessible by #4 or D train to Bedford Park Blvd. and is off the Saw Mill River Parkway and the Major Deegan Expressway. Low-cost on-site parking is available for $5.
Joe Bataan was born Bataan Nitollano to an African-American mother and Filipino father and raised in Spanish Harlem. He sang in informal doo-wop groups on street corners in the 1950s. He had taught himself to play piano, and in the mid-‘60s he formed his own band and was lead singer. Instead of following current patterns in pop, he chose instead to develop his own distinctive variation on boogaloo, a style that blended orthodox Latin pop with R&B, and created authentic Latin Soul. Bataan scored his first recording success in 1967 with Gypsy Woman on Fania Records. The title track crossed over to R&B radio and became an instant hit in New York’s Latin community. His next album’s title track “Subway Joe” was also an R&B crossover hit, followed by the smash hit ballad“Ordinary Guy.” In addition to his songwriting and performing career, Bataan also served as a producer for Ghetto Records. By the mid-‘70s, the popularity of Latin Soul began to fade as another genre of music was making the scene: Disco. Bataan's next big hit was 1979’s “Rap-O Clap-O” on Salsoul Records, which he co-founded. It was the first Rap/Disco hit and went Top-10 throughout Europe and was credited as Rap’s debut in the European market. Bataan recorded such classic albums as St. Latin's Day Massacre, a perennial favorite in the salsa market called Salsoul, which helped spark the explosion of urban dance music. His Afrofilipino included one of the earliest New York disco hits, an instrumental version of Gil Scott Heron’s “The Bottle.” After a 20-year hiatus from the music industry while he worked as a counselor for juvenile offenders, Bataan returned to the stage in 1995, and in 2005 he released a new album, Call My Name, on Vampisoul Records. With 24 albums to his credit, Bataan’s latest is 2011’s Under the Streetlamp Anthology 1967-72.
Blue Magic, an R&B vocal quintet comprised of Theodore Mills, Vernon Sawyer, Wendell Sawyer, Keith Beaton and Richard Pratt, was formed in Philadelphia and signed to Atlantic Records in 1973. Their debut album included a number of quality tunes, perhaps the best of which was “Look Me Up.” They hit the Top-40 on the R&B singles chart with their first three 45s before breaking through and crossing over with 1974’s “Sideshow,” which went gold, topped the R&B charts, and became a Top-10 pop hit. “Three-Ring Circus,”their next single, made the R&B Top-10 and the pop Top-40. Over the next three years Blue Magic became known mostly for smooth ballads, and the group stayed high on the Soul charts with “Stop to Start” and “Chasing Rainbows” before landing a big hit with the dance tune “Magic of the Blue.” They returned with hits on the R&B charts in 1981 and 1983 and made a comeback album, From Out of the Blue, on Columbia in 1989. In 2006’s they released their tenth album, Live – Blue Magic/Major Harris/Margie Joseph. Their latest CD is 2010’s Very Best of Blue Magic.
Lehman Center is supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council. The 2011-2012 season is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, JPMorgan Chase, and through corporations, foundations and private donations.
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