1960s hits from New York’s legendary Pop Song Factory
Thrill to the music of the Brill at Camden Music School’s spring scholarship FUNdraiser, The Brill Building Sing-Along, at 7 p.m. Friday, April 20 at the Capri Theater, 2027 West Broadway.
The audience is the star of this show – singing a hit parade of Brill Building songs by Bacharach and David, Leiber and Stoller, Carole King, Neil Diamond, Gene Pitney, the Coasters, the Platters, the Drifters, the Shirelles and more.
“The Brill Building was the great pop music melting pot of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, where so many brilliant songwriters shared cubicles, heard and stole each other’s stuff and pulled together white, black and Latino sounds to create the biggest hits of the pre-Beatles era,” said show producer, host and sing-along aficionado, Dan Chouinard.
Chouinard has enlisted top Twin Cities musicians as song-leaders for the evening including Prudence Johnson, Cynthia Johnson, T. Mychael Rambo, Katy Hays, Gary Rue and CMS instructors Jeffrey Willkomm on bass and David DeGennaro on drums.
Whether you’re familiar with the Brill or not, you’ll marvel at the depth and breadth of music that came out of this building – much of which continues to be performed by today’s recording artists. For a list of Brill Building songs and to vote for your top five favorites to be included in the sing-along go the Brill Top 60 in “events” on the CMS website www.camdenmusicschool.com.
All song lyrics will be projected on screen. All singing styles and abilities and “just listeners” are welcome. In addition, there will be a fast-paced live auction mid-show led by auctioneer extraordinaire T. Mychael Rambo. (Auction items will be posted on the CMS website (www.camdenmusicschool.)
Tickets are on sale now at www.camdenmusicschool.com or by calling 612-529-2317. $25 in advance, $30 at the door with special discounts for groups of 4, 6, 8 and 10.
The Camden Music School Scholarship Fund is a sponsored project Our Neighborhood Works (www.ourneighborhoodworks.org), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. As such, all donations to the fund are tax deductible.
It’ll be a fabulous night On Broadway.* Join us!
*On Broadway, written by Brill Building artists Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil in 1963.