Bobby McFerrin
Poet/Activist
“Now in his seventies, McFerrin has returned to the stage, performing his Circlesongs. It is the best kept secret and usually only happens at his home in Berkeley, CA - until now. McFerrin joins Resonance to play our audience as his second instrument. ”
Hailed as “one of the world’s most famous vocal chameleons” by the New York Times, Bobby McFerrin delivers one of the most transcendent experiences in live music. Truly a genre unto himself, the ten-time Grammy Award winner and multi-platinum-selling artist is a master of spontaneity, vocal ingenuity, and musical and spiritual openness.
You might know McFerrin as the voice behind the 1988 hit “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” or even as one of the inspirations for Key and Peele’s “Kings of Mouth Noise” sketch. But scratch the surface of celebrity, and you’ll realize that McFerrin is one of the most inimitable musicians of the past 40 years: a virtuosic solo performer with a four-octave range, conductor of St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and 2020 NEA Jazz Master.
Clearly still an unparalleled creative force, Bobby is a peaceful warrior of song.
Whatever Bobby McFerrin does, he breaks the mold – as a composer, arranger, and bandleader… as a conductor of symphony orchestras… and, of course, as a singer and improviser who expands our ideas of what music can be. He is that rare thing: a great entertainer and a groundbreaking artist, showing us that there are virtually no limits to what can be done with the human voice. For more than four decades, Bobby has broken all the rules – and made up a whole bunch of new ones.
“LET ME OPEN YOUR HEARTS AND MINDS TO THE CREATIVE SPIRIT WITHIN YOURSELF. WE ALL HAVE IT, WE JUST DON’T USE IT, OR WE’RE NOT AWARE OF IT, OR WE’RE AFRAID OF IT.”
A ten-time GRAMMY winner and a NEA Jazz Master, he has blurred the distinction between pop music and fine art – goofing around barefoot in the world’s august concert halls… exploring uncharted vocal territory… inspiring generations of a cappella singers and the beat box generation.
With a four-octave range and an astonishing musical palette, Bobby finds inspiration in composed music like Bach or Charles Ives or James Brown… in Charlie Parker and Jaco Pastorius and especially in the innovations of his longtime collaborator Chick Corea… and in pretty much every sound he’s ever heard or imagined… always bringing a multiverse of influences to his musical inventions. But for everything he has accomplished, Bobby always says that, above all, his goal is to bring joy.
Learn more about Bobby and his amazing work at the sites below:
Bobby appears on the following Resonance programs: