Events

EVENTS

THE COLOR PURPLE CAST CHRISTMAS PARTY - CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO IMPERIAL BALLROOM - DEC. 19, 2014

Christmas Party - Dec.19, 2014 - Live Music - Sera Hill (The Voice) - Sam Sims and the All Stars, featuring Kipper Jones

Join The Color Purple Musical Cast at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Imperial Ballroom, Friday - December 19, 2014 to celebrate the Holiday Season. Doors open at 6:30 PM. Rick Rushing (blues/rock artist) is our opening act; followed by Sera Hill, season 2 contestant on the hit TV Show "The Voice". She will do a tribute to Whitney Houston; followed by Sam Sims and The All Stars, featuring Kipper Jones. Sam Sims and The All Stars will perform some old school and new R&B. Singing favorites such as, King Floyd (Groove Me -1971), Frankie Beverly and Maze, Earth Wind & Fire, Chaka Khan, Al Green (Let’s Stay Together), Prince,The Temptations (Papa Was A Rolling Stone), Luther Vandross, Marvin Gaye, John Legend (Best You Ever Had), Robin Thicke (Blurred Lines), and many, many, more.

VIP Tables seat 8 people and come with 2 complimentary bottles and a food tray. VIP Tables are $500 and can be reserved by calling (423) 260-7514. Any remaining tables can be purchased online beginning, December 1, 2014. General admission tickets are $25. There will be tables that seat 10 people available. Any remaining general tickets can be purchased at the door for $40. A portion of the proceeds will purchase 200 school student and 50 senior citizen tickets to the Color Purple Musical 2015 performances.

Rick Rushing

Rick Rushing, One Hit Production, was born in Cincinnati is kin to the legendary Jimmy Rushing of the legendary Count Basie Big Band. He is the lead vocalist and guitarist of the band Rick Rushing and the Blues Strangers.

The trio is out of Chattanooga, Tennessee and Rick Rushing is the main songwriter of the trio. Rick sings original music that is similar to the styles of Jimi Hendrix and Ray Charles.

Sera Hill

Sera Hill, One Hit Production, was a season 2 contestant from the hit TV show "The Voice". During the blind auditions, she was the only artist to sing with her coach, Christina Aguilera in an impromptu duet! Since The Voice, Sera has performed on Jay Leno, with Drew Hill and the Simply Irresistible Band.

Sera will sing some of Whitney Houston's most memorable songs and finish her set with a few old school new R&B hits.

Click here to see Sera's audition.

Click here to see Sera's battle on The Voice (Chain of Fools).

Romeo Johnson

Romeo Johnson, The Official Vocal Coach of NBC’s The Voice Seasons 1- 4, MTV’s StarMaker and P. Diddy’s Making His Band, celebrity clients include Avril Lavigne, El Debarge, Teddy Riley, Priyanka Chopra, Diddy, Ester Dean, and Cassie to name a few. He has composed and recorded jingles and radio I.D.’s nationally and internationally. Romeo displayed his acting skills in two plays, “Young Man Older Woman – The sequel” and “Love in All the Wrong Faces”.

Romeo’s vocals can be heard in a few major motion picture soundtracks “Cookout” starring Queen Latifah and “Radio” starring Cuba Gooding Jr. Romeo is also an accomplished and published songwriter who wrote two songs for the BET movie “Holla”.

Romeo worked on American Idol for two seasons, Soul Train Music Awards, BET Awards, BET Walk of Fame for Smokey Robinson and sang at the Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman’s after party. Romeo recorded background vocals on CD’s by Stevie Wonder, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, James Ingram, Jennifer Holiday, Ice Cube and others.

Romeo has toured with Jody Watley and Sheena Easton. He has recorded and performed with Jennifer Holliday, David Peaston, M.C. Hammer and James Ingram. He is the first and only male vocalist to ever tour with Janet Jackson. In 1999, Romeo was hired as a vocalist in Michael Jackson’s band. Romeo is the only vocalist to ever tour with both Janet and Michael Jackson. Between the tours with the Jackson’s, Romeo did a World Tour with Rashaan Patterson as a background vocalist. Romeo is a background and co-lead vocalist for the band Rufus. He is still performing with major artists such as Queen Latifah, Ne-Yo, Teddy Riley and GUY.

Click here for music clips.

Click here for a video music clip.

Sam Sims

Sam Sims has been a staple in R&B, Pop, Rock and Jazz for more than 20 years. Known for being one of the most versatile bassists in today’s music, he has worked with musical giants such as Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Justin Timberlake, Janet Jackson, Utada Hikaru, kd Lang, Rob Halford, Backstreet Boys, Bette Midler, Whitney Houston, George Duke, Patrice Rushin, Boney James, Maxwell and many more.

Born and raised in Chattanooga, TN, Sims began his music career at age 6 singing in the Chattanooga Boys Choir touring and performing throughout the U.S. and Canada. At age 12, influenced by such players as Verdine White, Jaco Pastorius, James Jamerson, Larry Graham, Louis Johnson, Marcus Miller, and or course Stanley Clarke, Sam began playing bass guitar. Sims adds that after listening to these great players, you can’t help but get a sense of groove and melody.

After graduating from Morehouse College where he played in the jazz ensemble, as well as a local fusion/funk band; Sam moved to Los Angeles. He began playing around town and auditioning for tours and the rest is history. Other accomplishments include writing, producing and recording sessions over 100 records from Vince Neil to Regina Bell to Jeffery Osborne. He also has numerous television/DVD performances to his credit including: American Idol, Good Morning America, The Today Show, MTV Awards, Saturday Night Live, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The View, Top of the Pops (UK), HBO Special, Rosie O’Donnell Show and many more. In addition, he has served as music director for TV show "Duet".

Kipper Jones,Motown trained as a session singer at 15, during the last of the Barry Gordy era. Kipper was part of a R&B/funk band TEASE and recorded for CBS/EPA Records. He was tutored and directed by Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Luther Vandross.

Kipper has performed and recorded with Johnny Mathis, Eric Clapton, Charlie Wilson, Lauryn Hill, Usher, Sly and The Family Stone, etc.

Kipper is most notable known as a legendary songwriter. He has written multi-platinum songs for Vanessa Williams (The Right Stuff) and (The Comfort Zone), Brandy's million selling songs "I Wanna Be Down" and "Brokenhearted", Kenny Lattimore's "Never Too Busy", Chaka Khan's "Somethin' Deep", "In the Middle" for the classic motion picture The Five Heartbeats, just to name a few.

Click here for more information about Kipper Jones.

Kipper Jones

	Sonny Emory

Sonny Emory is a graduate of Georgia State University with a B.A. in Jazz Performance. As a part time professor of applied percussion at Georgia State University, Sonny believes that success comes from God-given talent, staying in school, developing your craft, and setting long-term goals.

Sonny's credits are many. He played drums with Earth, Wind & Fire. He co-wrote the tune "Cruising" with members of that band, which can be heard on the score to Spike Lee's 1998 motion picture, "Get On the Bus". He also worked on the "Lethal Weapon II" soundtrack with Eric Clapton and David Sanborn. Sonny has recorded, and or performed, with a virtual "who's who" in pop and jazz music, including, Stanley Clarke, David Sanborn, Bette Midler, Al Jarreau, Paula Abdul, Jean-Luc Ponty and Boz Scaggs.

Morris Pleasure

Known affectionately as Mo Pleasure, this renowned multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, and music director for groups such as Earth Wind and Fire, began playing acoustic piano at the age of four and by his early teens already mastered several instruments including bass, trumpet, guitar, drums and violin.

Upon receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from University of Connecticut, Mo began his professional music career playing bass with Ray Charles. He then began working as a session musician, backing some of the most accomplished talents in Jazz ,R&B and pop including George Duke, Natalie Cole, Dianne Reeves, Christina Aguilera, Jonathan Butler, Rachelle Ferrell, Brian Culbertson, Michael McDonald, Oleta Adams, Chaka Khan, Roberta Flack, Marcus Miller, Mary J. Blige, and Frankie Beverly and Maze, to name a few.

From 1989 through 1992, Mo was both keyboardist and musical director with saxophonist Najee, pianist Alex Bugnon, and vocalists Philip Bailey, Patti Austin and Jon Lucien. In 1993, he became a member of the legendary group Earth, Wind & Fire, and ascended to become the band’s musical director from 1994-2001. Mo was featured playing keyboards, trumpet and guitar with Janet Jackson’s 2001 All For You tour and played keyboards and trumpet with Boney James’ 2004 Pure tour. As a principal member of the group Devoted Spirits he was featured playing keyboards for Jimi Hendrix’s 60th Birthday Celebration and the 2004 Power of Soul: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix tour.

Mo was a keyboardist in Michael Jackson’s final touring band that was scheduled to perform in the late superstar’s historic 2009, comeback tour at London’s O2 Arena.

In addition to performing at worldwide jazz festivals including Montreux, North Sea, St. Lucia, Cancun, and Montreal, Mo has been a featured concert pianist, performing Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra and for the Boston Ballet.

There are many Television and Video performances to Mo’s credit, including Ray Charles BBC Special, Mad TV, BET on Jazz, VH1, The Tonight Show, X- Factor, The Talk, George Lopez Show, Earth, Wind & Fire documentary Shining Stars and HBO Special – Janet Jackson in Hawaii. His movie soundtrack credits include “Talkin’” featured in the Disney movie “Three Men and a Little Lady” and the EWF single “Cruisin,” featured in Spike Lee’s “Get On The Bus.”

Click here to see an additional performance.