Peabo Bryson knows just how powerful music can be.
Bryson grew up in Greenville, SC, and would go on to be a singer known for his soulful ballads and rousing, romantic duets. But before he made music with the likes of Roberta Flack, Celine Dion, Regina Belle, he was just a kid who loved going to concerts in his hometown.
From Sam Cooke to Little Anthony and the Imperials, Bryson saw them all. Growing up in the segregated south (Bryson turns 73 this April), the audiences he saw these concerts with were sectioned off by race. Yet, even in that setting the power of the music left a strong impression on him.
“Watching it as a boy – witnessing music and watching it transcend politics, race, religion, [watching] people coming all together for one purpose, and that is to listen to the greatest music on the planet in that moment – was overwhelming to me,” Bryson said. “I had never seen any one thing in American society that could transcend all those things in one fell swoop.”
Bryson, who will be playing a show on Feb. 10 at the Rialto Center for the Arts, has gone on to have a career that spans genres. After releasing his debut LP in 1976, he had hit singles such as “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love” and won two Grammys for singing the Disney songs “Beauty and the Beast” from the movie of the same name and “A Whole New World” from Aladdin.
For as much as he’s known for his romantic ballads, Bryson has also performed in the theater productions such as the opera “Porgy and Bess.”
“I didn’t want to become the king of R&B,” Bryson said. “I wanted to do every kind of music and every genre. I didn’t want anything to be beyond my reach, or beyond my grasp, or beyond my comprehension.”
Bryson said audiences can expect a show with a diverse array of songs, and hopes that audiences will feel closer to him after the show is over.
“I don’t want people to come to a concert and not get a sense of who I am, or if they could approach me, or what the level of my intellect is or isn’t,” Bryson said. “I don’t want to leave those kinds of questions on the stage. I want my audience to feel like if they ran into me the next day, they should feel free to walk up to me and invite me to lunch. And if they don’t feel like that, then I haven’t done my job.”
Bryson will play at the Rialto on Feb. 10, just in time for Valentine’s Day. Tickets are available online.
