Billy Porter's New Album to Spotlight Richard Rodgers with Help from Cynthia Erivo and More

Bee & El and Sony Masterworks Broadway announced today that Tony & Grammy Award-Winner Billy Porter will release a new studio album, Billy Porter Presents The Soul of Richard Rodgers, in April 2017.

The album, which will feature new, soulful takes on classic Richard Rodgers songs, The Soul of Richard Rodgers includes solos and duets from some of theater and music's biggest contemporary stars, including Tony Award-winners Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom, Jr., Renee Elise Goldsberry, Patina Miller, Grammy nominee Ledisi, Tony Award nominees Joshua Henry and Brandon Victor Dixon, and many more to be announced.

Billy Porter Presents The Soul of Richard Rodgers marks Porter's fourth studio album, and his first as producer as content curator.

"Since the release of my first album "Untitled" almost two decades ago, I've been fusing my favorite genres, Broadway and Soul, in my music," Porter said. "It has always been my dream to expand this idea beyond myself, so its sounds and attitudes could evolve to become a respected and viable voice in the Broadway market. This album is yet another example of how mashing up the classic with the modern makes the art explosive, transformative, visceral and immediate."

Billy Porter is a Tony and Grammy Award-winning singer, composer, actor, playwright and director from Pittsburgh, PA. As a recording artist, Porter's solo albums include his first CD, Untitled, on A&M records, At the Corner of Broadway + Soul - LIVE on Sh-K-Boom Records, and Billy's Back on Broadway, on Concord Records. He originated the role of 'Lola' in the Broadway hit Kinky Boots, which won him 2013 Tony, Grammy, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. Other theatre: Shuffle Along, Miss Saigon, Five Guys..., Grease, Smokey Joe's..., Dreamgirls, Angels in America, The Merchant of Venice, Radiant Baby, Birdie Blue, Songs for a New World, Ghetto Superstar (one-man show), Topdog/Underdog, King Lear. His play, While I Yet Live, premiered in 2015 at Primary Stages. As a director, his credits include Topdog/Underdog and The Colored Museum (both for Huntington Theatre Company); Film/TV: "Law & Order: SVU," "So You Think You Can Dance" (as a guest judge), "The Broken Hearts Club," "Shake Rattle & Roll," "The Big C," The Humbling, starring Al Pacino, Baz Luhrmann's The Get Down. Porter's concerts credits include opening act for Rosie O'Donnell and Aretha Franklin, Carnegie Hall, John McDaniel and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, as well as The Buffalo Philharmonic, Peter Nero and The Philly Pops, soloist for President Bill Clinton and various benefits throughout the United States.

Sony Music Masterworks comprises the imprints Sony Classical, Masterworks, OKeh, Portrait, Flying Buddha and Masterworks Broadway. Our artists range from icons to newly developing talents in classical, crossover and adult music, plus new and legendary jazz artists, as well as a vast catalog of musical theatre recordings including classic Broadway shows and original cast albums of today's Broadway hits, most recently Kinky Boots, Once, If/Then and An American In Paris.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride