NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ Island Def Jam
Music Group) - Grammy Award-winning Def Jam recording artist Chrisette Michele, who continues to tour the U.S. aggressively this summer in support of her brand new second album EPIPHANY - has been chosen as the opening act for one of the highest profile tours of 2009, as she joins fellow neo-soul artist
Maxwell on the road in support of his 8-year comeback album, BLACKsummers'night (released July 7th).
Soulful, jazz-influenced vocalist Chrisette's 20-day, 14-city tour with Maxwell (most dates already sold-out) opens July 12th at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, and concludes at Miami's Waterfront Theater on July 31st. (Please see dates below.) The tour immediately follows Chrisette's most recent 17-city May-June itinerary with fellow Grammy winner Anthony Hamilton and neo-soulman Musiq Soulchild. 2009 marks the third consecutive summer that Chrisette has won prime billing spots on tour - after playing out with Raheem DeVaughan from May-July 2008, and with Musiq in July-August 2007.
EPIPHANY debuted at No 1 Soundscan following its arrival in the physical and digital marketplace on May 5th. The album built on the success of its Top 10 Adult R&B title tune hit "Epiphany (I'm Leaving)," co-written by fellow Def Jam artist Ne-Yo and producer Chuck Harmony. The second single was "What You Do" (featuring Ne-Yo), whose video co-starred Pooch Hall of the CW sitcom The Game.
Chrisette celebrated EPIPHANY's breakthrough with TV appearances in May on CBS's The Late Show with David Letterman, NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and the CBS Early Show. In April, she appeared on VH1 Soulstages: Chrisette Michele presented by Infiniti.
EPIPHANY follows up Chrisette's RIAA gold debut album I AM (released June 2007). The album, produced by multi-platinum 10-time Grammy Award winner Babyface, contained the R&B and AC hits "If I Have My Way," "Best Of Me" and "Be OK" (featuring will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas). "Be OK" went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance. Full-length versions of "If I Have My Way" and "Best Of Me" can be heard on Chrisette's MySpace site, https://www.myspace.com/chrisettemichele, along with three other tracks from I AM ("Love Is You," "Your Joy," "Good Girl") as well as "Epiphany (I'm Leaving)." The MySpace site has logged more than 3.1 million Profile Views, and more than 9.5 million Total Plays.
CHRISETTE MICHELE ON TOUR WITH MAXWELL:
July 12 - Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
13 - Louisville, KY - Louisville Palace Theatre
15 - Columbus, OH - Palace Theater
16 - Cleveland, OH - Allen Theater
18 - Pittsburgh, PA - Heinz Hall
19 - Buffalo, NY - Shea's Performing Arts Center
21 - Albany, NY - The Palace
22 - Newark, NJ - NJ Performing Arts Center
24 - Atlantic City, NJ - Borgata Events Center
25 - Ledyard, CT - Foxwoods Casino
27 - Norfolk, VA - Chrysler Hall
28 - Savannah, GA - Johnny Mercer
30 - Clearwater, FL - Ruth Eckerd Hall
31 - Miami, FL - Waterfront Theater
