Benjamin Clementine to Headline Carnegie Hall Next Spring

Benjamin Clementine, the acclaimed British singer, songwriter and pianist, will headline Carnegie Hall on April 13, 2017. Starting Friday, November 18, tickets will be available at carnegiehall.org or by calling Carnegiecharge at 212 247-7800. Prices range from $30 to $70.

In this concert, a major milestone in an already remarkable early career, Clementine will perform material from his Mercury Prize-winning album At Least For Now (Capitol Records) and will debut songs from the follow-up to it, expected for release in 2017.

Today's announcement caps a breakthrough year in the U.S. that began when Clementine won the Mercury Prize, British music's most internationally prestigious accolade, last November. In March, The New York Times' T Magazine featured him on the cover, and David Byrne, both a hero and an admirer of Clementine, wrote the profile, accompanying him back to the tough Edmonton section of London where Clementine grew up teaching himself to play and sing, influenced by Erik Satie and, a little later, Antony and The Johnsons. In April, Burberry launched a new advertising campaign directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen, with At Least for Now track "I Won't Complain" as its soundtrack, and NPR Music premiered a Tiny Desk Concert by Clementine. In May, Capitol released a deluxe edition of At Least for Now with several bonus tracks, and Clementine made his U.S. television debut performing "I Won't Complain" on "The Late Late Show with James Corden." On July 13, he performed "Cornerstone" on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon."

Clementine is especially beloved for his intimate, emotionally charged live performances. Reviewing a recent concert, Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote, "Within songs, he was the picture of passionate obsession" and "Mr. Clementine's stage presence is striking." Rolling Stone, naming Clementine one of their New Artists You Need to Know, has described Clementine this way: "Nina Simone's brother steps into an elegant French café, sits down at the piano and tears open a vein." Please see below for an itinerary of upcoming shows.

Even before the Mercury Prize, Clementine's was already a singular story. Inspired by heroes like Leonard Cohen-and with no emotional or employment ties to keep him in London-Benjamin left for Paris at age 20; he worked in kitchens and busked out of financial necessity. First in the corridors of the Place de Clichy station and then on the metro, he built his voice and refined his craft as he made enough money to move first to a hostel and then into a room of his own. He eventually returned to London, where he was invited to make his U.K. live debut on "Later...With Jools Holland." In France, he won the Best New Act honor at 2015's Les Victoires de la Musique, the equivalent of the GRAMMYs. The New York Times has called At Least For Now Clementine's "declaration of selfhood," and has described his voice as a "frequently stunning instrument, a bladelike tenor that can swoop into either a clarion cry or a guttural scowl."