FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, AND SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, AT 8:30 PM


Friday's concert is generously sponsored by Renaissance Hollywood Hotel; Media sponsor: U Entertainment Magazine


Saturday's concert is a Lexus Passionate Performance; Media sponsors: KCET and KCSN

Natalie Cole takes center stage in a headlining performance at the Hollywood Bowl on Friday, August 19, and Saturday, August 20, at 8:30 p.m. This is Cole's first return visit to the Bowl since the summer of 2002. Cole's music director Gail Deadrick conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a program that traces the illustrious musical career of this sensational woman of song.

The multi-Grammy Award-winner performs material from a diverse range of styles, from American songbook standards and jazz, to pop and R&B, plus new material and hits from her acclaimed career. Throughout her performance, Cole is joined by Terry Trotter (piano), Ralph Humphrey (drums), John Belzaguy (bass), Pat Kelley (guitar), Morris Pleasure (keyboards), David Trigg (lead trumpet), Aretha Scruggs, Alayna Scruggs and Marcellina Hawthorne (backing vocals). Special guests are Linda "Aziza" Miller (keyboards) and Sissy Peoples (vocalist).

For the past thirty years Natalie Cole has mastered the art of music and performance. During her career, she has been nominated for ten Grammy awards and won eight, including "Best New Artist." She has followed in the steps of her father, Nat King Cole, and become a legend in her own time. She is perhaps best known for some of her hit singles such as: "This Will Be," "I've Got Love on My Mind," "Jump Start," "Wild Women Do," and "Miss You Like Crazy" and "Unforgettable," an inspiring rendition of the song originally performed by her father.

There's a special kind of magic that comes with musical maturity. It's an inherent ease, an innate knowing. Unquestionably in her prime, NATALIE COLE is an artist whose work has been making an impact on the music world since her 1975 debut album, Inseparable (which went gold and won two Grammy awards), which earned her the Best New Artist Grammy. As the daughter of one of the most important vocalists of the 20th century, Cole was exposed to the music of artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington at an early age. By the time she had reached her teens, she was also listening to the soulful sounds of Aretha Franklin and the rock and roll of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. All of those influences helped inform Cole's own musical choices. Her musical heritage, married with her love for pop, rock, R&B and gospel, combined to form her highly personal, distinctive vocal style. Cole's career reached new heights in the early '90s: the revered and critically acclaimed Unforgettable, With Love sold an amazing fourteen million copies worldwide and earned seven Grammy Awards. In addition to its sales success, the album catapulted the internationally renowned performer to a new level of recognition and acceptance.

The year 2000 marked Natalie's 25th year in the music industry and to celebrate the occasion, Elektra Records released a greatest hits album which Cole executive produced; Warner Books released her autobiography, Angel on My Shoulder, co-authored with Digby Diehl; and NBC aired a telefilm of her life, on which she also served as Executive Producer. In 2002 Natalie joined the Verve Music Group and reunited with Tommy LiPuma to produce Ask A Woman Who Knows. Their first collaboration together garnered four Grammy award nominations including nominations for Natalie for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Better Than Anything" and for Natalie and Diana Krall for Best Jazz Vocal Album.

GAIL DEADRICK, a native of Los Angeles, California, began studying classical piano at the age of four. Gail became the conductor for Natalie Cole in June 2000. Gail's talent includes a variety of musical styles: R&B, gospel, jazz and theatre. She accompanied and/or conducted for singers including Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., Nancy Wilson, Nell Carter, Lola Falana, Thelma Houston, Johnny Gill, Brenda Russell, Shirley Caesar and Daryl Coley. She has also toured with Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick, Roberta Flack, Maureen McGovern and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, The Original 5th Dimension, and the Pointer Sisters. Gail was Musical Director and Pianist for The Colors of Christmas Tour from1994 to 1999. Featured artists were Patti Austin, Philip Bailey, Peabo Bryson, Sheena Easton, Roberta Flack, James Ingram, Melissa Manchester, Aaron Neville, Jeffrey Osborne and Deniece Williams. In February 1993 Gail was Musical Director for the Fox Television Network pilot "Edna Time." Gail also appeared on the classic HBO Special "Sisters in the Name of Love" featuring Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle.

One of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world, with a seating capacity of nearly 18,000, the HOLLYWOOD BOWL has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922, and in 1991 gave its name to the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, a resident ensemble that has filled a special niche in the musical life of Southern California. The 2004 season introduced audiences to a revitalized Hollywood Bowl, featuring a newly-constructed shell and stage and the addition of four stadium screens enhancing stage views in the venue. To this day, $1 buys a seat at the top of the Bowl for many of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's concerts. While the Bowl is best known for its sizzling summer nights, during the day California's youngest patrons enjoy "SummerSounds: Music for Kids at the Hollywood Bowl," the Southland's most popular summer arts festival for children, now in its 37th season. Attendance figures over the past several decades have soared: in 1980 the Bowl first topped the half-million mark and close to one million admissions have been recorded. In February 2005, the Hollywood Bowl was named Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue at the 16th Annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards; it is no wonder that the Bowl's summer music festival has become as much a part of a Southern California summer as beaches and barbecues, the Dodgers, and Disneyland.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2005 at 8:30 PM

SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 2005 at 8:30 PM

HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 2301 N. Highland Ave. in Hollywood

An Evening with Natalie Cole

LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

NATALIE COLE, vocalist

GAIL DEADRICK, conductor

Friday's concert is generously sponsored by Renaissance Hollywood Hotel; Media Sponsor: U Entertainment Magazine

Saturday's concert is a Lexus Passionate Performance; Media Sponsors: KCET and KCSN

Tickets ($4 - $110) are on sale now at the Hollywood Bowl Box Office, by calling Ticketmaster at 213.480.3232, at all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons May, Tower Records, and Ritmo Latino locations), or online at HollywoodBowl.com. Groups of 12 or more may be eligible for a 20% discount, subject to availability; call 323.850.2050 for further details.
For general information or to request a brochure, call 323.850.2000.

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