Reeves Set to Return to the Festival Stage

Stories to tell: Grammy Award winning singer Dianne Reeves will be the featured international artist at the 2020 Bermuda Festival (Photograph submitted)

A Grammy Award-winning jazz singer said yesterday she was keen to return to a Bermuda stage next month.

Dianne Reeves, the headline international artist for the 2020 Bermuda Festival of the Performing Arts, said: “It has been a while, but I’m looking forward to coming back.

“Bermuda is a very colourful place.

“The last time I was there, people were really into the music and I remember being there with my cousin, George Duke, and having a wonderful time. It’s a great place to perform with a great audience.”

Ms Reeves, who has notched up five Grammy wins, said music has always been a part of her life.

She said: “I think it wasn’t that I got into music, but music got into me.

“I cannot even remember when. I just always remember it being a part of me.”

Ms Reeves, who performed at the Bermuda Jazz Festival in 2002, added her music had given her the chance to travel around the world, which she said was a formative experience for everyone.

She said: “I tell people all the time to get a passport and travel, because you find a part of yourself, find something about yourself that connects to places around the world.

“People have been good and generous and lovely.”

American-born Ms Reeves has toured the world in a variety of shows in recent years, including Sing the Truth, a musical celebration of Nina Simone which also featured Lizz Wright and Angelique Kidjo.

She has performed at the White House on several occasions, including President Barack Obama’s State Dinner for the President of China as well as the Governors’ Ball.

Ms Reeves was also featured in, and performed on, the soundtrack of award-winning film Good Night and Good Luck, which earned her her fourth Grammy win.

She said she planned to bring every piece of her heart and soul to the stage when she performed in Bermuda. Ms Reeves added: “Those who come will see 100 per cent of my heart and everything that we are. Our music is eclectic, but it’s about the stories being told through the music.

“That’s what music is — telling someone something that you really know about, something that is a part of you. Maybe it’s something you created or are inspired by or something you will never forget.”

• Ms Reeves will appear at the Mid-Ocean Amphitheatre at the Fairmont Southampton on March 9. The show will start at 8pm with opening performer John Wooldridge. Tickets are available now at www.ptix.bm<;/i>

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