A-list performers will entertain in Augusta
Willie Nelson, B.B. King and the Harlem Globetrotters will entertain in Augusta in 2010.
Nelson will perform at the Bell Auditorium Saturday, Jan. 23, at 8 p.m. As a song stylist, the bandanna-wearing nonconformist took a number of non-country standards and made them his own, including Elvis Presley's "You Were Always on My Mind" and Ray Charles' "Georgia on My Mind."
He married his fifth wife, Ann-Marie D'Angelo, in 1991 and has survived more hard times in recent years, including a $16.7 million debt to the IRS and the suicide of one of his sons, Billy. Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993, Nelson received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1998.
The Harlem Globetrotters are primed to showcase their eye-popping 2010 Magical Memories World Tour in Augusta on Friday, March 12, at the James Brown Arena at 7 p.m. with the wholesome family entertainment known worldwide for thrilling fans young and old and making cherished family memories.
Now in their 84th consecutive season of touring the world, the Globetrotters' high-flying show features some of the most extraordinary athletes and entertainers on the planet, including Big Easy Lofton and Flight Time Lang, who are starring in the Emmy Award-winning CBS reality hit "The Amazing Race;" the always hilarious Special K Daley; dribbling magician Scooter Christensen; and ball-handling wizards Handles Franklin and Ant Atkinson.
Iconic blues musician King will perform at the Bell Auditorium on May 8. Known as the King of the Blues, King has been performing and recording music since the 1940s. He grew up sharecropping in Mississippi and learned to play gospel music on the guitar when he was a teenager.
In the late '40s, he turned to playing blues and moved to Memphis, Tenn., to start a music career. After popular performances in clubs and on radio, he kicked off his recording career with "Three O'Clock Blues" (1951), a top hit on the R&B charts.
King's early records in the '50s produced some R&B hits, but mainstream success eluded him. He and his band toured almost nonstop, performing hundreds of shows a year and building an audience. He finally had breakthrough success in the late 1960s, when white audiences began to discover rock's debt to the blues.
Guitarists such as Eric Clapton and Keith Richards sang his praises, and King began performing in rock and jazz clubs.
He had crossover hits such as "Paying the Cost to Be the Boss" (1968) and "The Thrill is Gone" (1970). King has recorded more than 50 albums, won 13 Grammys and received dozens of awards and honors over the years, and he still performs four or five nights a week.
Tickets to all three shows can be purchased at the James Brown Arena box office at www.georgialinatix.com or by calling (877) 4AUGTIX. For more information, call the Augusta Entertainment Complex at (706) 262-4400.