The Revolution, Mavis Staples to Headline ACM@UCO's Metro Music Fest in Bricktown, April 6
The Revolution, Mavis Staples to Headline ACM@UCO's Metro Music Fest in Bricktown, April 6
Feb. 8, 2018
Media Contact: Ariel West, Marketing Assistant, College of Fine Arts and Design, 405-974-3794, awest14@uco.edu
The Revolution, Mavis Staples to Headline ACM@UCO’s Metro Music Fest in Bricktown, April 6
The Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma (ACM@UCO) will welcome Prince’s iconic band The Revolution and legendary singer Mavis Staples to Oklahoma City for the ninth annual Metro Music Fest Friday, April 6.
The Revolution, composed of Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman, Bobby Z, BrownMark and Dr. Fink, is best known as the band behind Prince. The Revolution have two No. 1 Billboard 200 albums – “Purple Rain” and “Around the World in a Day” – and multiple No. 1 singles. The band also has won three Grammys and three American Music Awards. After Prince’s death in 2016, the band remained united to continue to play in his honor.
“Only by playing for you, the fans, can we be Prince’s Revolution,” the band stated in its official biography. “He gives us to one another now, as we all start to heal and fill forever emptiness with sound. Together, we are The Revolution.”
Two-time Grammy winner and civil rights icon Mavis Staples, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, brings soul and gravitas to the festival this year. Mavis and her five-person band move fluidly between the gospel, soul, rock, rhythm-and-blues and country genres of the American roots music she helped pioneer with her family band, The Staple Singers. She was recognized as a 2016 Kennedy Center Honoree, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and has been honored by the Berklee College of Music and Columbia College Chicago with honorary doctorate degrees. Her 2017 album, the critically-acclaimed “If All I Was Was Black” (ANTI-), is her third collaboration with songwriter and producer Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. The album is the first for which Tweedy composed an entire album of original songs for Mavis' legendary voice.
“Bring us all together as a people, that’s what I hope to do,” Staples said of the songs on her new album. “You can’t stop me. You can’t break me, I’m too loving. These songs are going to change the world.”
“The Revolution and Mavis Staples are representative of everything that is right with the music industry,” said Scott Booker, CEO of ACM@UCO.
“These are artists that cross musical boundaries of soul, rock, pop and dance, as well as being representative of who we are as an American people. The Revolution and Mavis Staples are shining examples of how great it is when creative people collaborate and bend the rules, and ACM is proud to bring these incredible artists to Oklahoma for Metro Music Fest.”
ACM@UCO’s Metro Music Fest began in 2010 as a showcase of student talent and has grown to a large music festival, hosted in the Oklahoma City metro every April. The festival organizes performances by dozens of student bands, Oklahoma-known musicians and internationally recognized headliners across more than 13 venues throughout the Bricktown district. More than 15,000 attendees converge to experience the growing music culture of the Oklahoma City metro.
A complete lineup of all artists performing at the festival, as well as starting times and venue locations, will be released at a later date.
To learn more about the festival, including sponsorship opportunities, visit acm.uco.edu/metro-music-fest/.
To learn more about ACM@UCO, visit acm.uco.edu or follow them on Facebook at facebook.com/ACM.UCO.
For more information about College of Fine Arts and Design events, visit cfad.uco.edu.
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Editor's Note: Download art associated with this release at https://media.uco.edu/press/MetroMusicFest2018.
Cutline 1: The Revolution, best known as the iconic band behind Prince, will headline the ACM@UCO’s Metro Music Fest alongside legendary singer Mavis Staples on April 6.
Cutline 2: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Mavis Staples will headline the ACM@UCO’s Metro Music Fest April 6 alongside The Revolution, the iconic band behind Prince.