ABOUT BOBBY
“I’ve always felt that singing a song without words makes one song a thousand songs because the people who hear it can bring their own stories to it.”
To some people, BOBBY MCFERRIN will always be the guy who sang Don’t Worry Be Happy. And he is that guy; he wrote and sang that global number one hit more than thirty years ago. But if that song is all you know about Bobby McFerrin, then you are missing out!
Check out The Real Bobby McFerrin on YouTube, sit back and prepare for a serious boggling of the mind.
The ever-surprising vocal virtuoso Bobby McFerrin is excited to work with choirs and audiences around the world. From his trailblazing solo a cappella performances to his inspired collaborations with Chick Corea and Yo-Yo Ma, his iconic global No. 1 hit “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” and his work conducting top-tier orchestras, McFerrin’s calling has always been to connect people through the unlimited possibilities of music. Or, as the Los Angeles Times put it, “Bobby McFerrin’s greatest gift to his audience may be changing them from spectators into celebrants and transforming a concert hall into a playground, a village center, a joyous space.”
The 10-time Grammy-winner’s vocal ensembles are vehicles for channeling the spontaneous adventure and laughter that occurs when folks join together in song—on and off the stage. His latest ensemble, Gimme5, features trusted veterans of Voicestra, the panoramically gifted 12-member choir that McFerrin founded in the 1980s. With a telepathic rapport and a love for the unknown, they’ll unite in an improvised program based on McFerrin’s sweeping, soulful vocal language: a wide-open, all-embracing space where art music meets pop, jazz meets classical, lyrics meet pure sound, the avant-garde meets the traditional where all the cultures of the world become one.
McFerrin’s tours are based on Circlesinging, a musical practice and philosophy that McFerrin has been honing since he began as a solo a cappella performer, assigning vocal parts to both on-stage local choir’s and his fans, transforming sold-out houses into impromptu choirs. You will be invited to sing along and join in on a spontaneous adventure fueled by jazz, pop, R&B, classical and world music—or, more accurately, out-of-this-world music—all rolled into one.