This week it was announced that Grammy Award-winning recording artist Jill Scott will headline Music Heritage Festival II on Saturday, July 20, 2013 – climaxing the Indiana Black Expo’s 43rd Annual Summer Celebration. Special guest for the concert at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis will be the legendary hip-hop group Whodini.
Jill Scott was an instant hit when she burst on the scene in 2000. Her debut album – “Who is Jill Scott?”” – went double-platinum, earning her a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. She won her first Grammy in 2005 in the category of Best Urban/Alternative R&B Performance for, “Cross My Mind.” She has also earned several NAACP Image Awards and the Soul Train Music Award.
Scott’s 2004 album, “Beautifully Human,” peaked at No. 3 on Billboard’s albums chart. Her third release was “The Real Thing” in 2008. Her latest, “The Light of the Sun,” was released in 2011. A prolific lyricist, her book of her poetry entitled “The Moments, the Minutes, the Hours” was published in April 2005.
In 2007, she released two albums: the retrospective duet collection “Jill Scott: Collaborations” and an album of all-new material called “The Real Thing” which focused on a range of relationship issues.
Jill Scott’s acting career includes the HBO series “No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” and the Tyler Perry film, “Why Did I Get Married.”
Her “cover girl” face earned her a prominent listing in 2001 as one of People Magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People” in the nation.
The act preceding Jill Scott onstage remains one of the most familiar names in the history of hip-hop and rap. Whodini started in Brooklyn in 1981. Two years later, the trio recorded its first album self-titled “Whodini.”
In 1984, they released “Escape,” an album that produced their signature singles “Freaks Come Out at Night,” ”Five Minutes of Funk” and “Friends.” The album went platinum, selling more than a million copies. Another classic hip-hop hit from Whodini was “Magic’s Wand”.
Whodini became one of the first rap groups to add a straight R&B twist to their music, thus laying the groundwork for the later new jack swing movement.
Tickets start at $30 and go on sale Monday, March 11th at Ticketmaster outlets, Banker’s Life Fieldhouse, Indiana Black Expo at 3145 N. Meridian St. and online at ticketmaster.com. For more information, call 317.925.2702 or visit www.indianablackexpo.com.
