Chicago's Own Oscar-Winner Common Makes Ravinia Debut with with Taylor Bennett, 6/24

Chicago rapper, poet, filmmaker, and actor Common will make his Ravinia debut on Saturday, June 24. Opening the concert will be Grammy-nominated DJ Anthony "Twilite Tone" Khan, followed by rising rap star Taylor Bennett, younger brother of Chance The Rapper.

Common debuted in 1992 with the album Can I Borrow a Dollar? and maintained a significant underground following into the late 1990s, after which he gained notable mainstream success through his work with the Soulquarians. In 2011, Common launched Think Common Entertainment, his own record label imprint, and has released music under various other labels such as Relativity, Geffen and GOOD Music. Common's first major-label album, Like Water for Chocolate, received widespread critical acclaim and tremendous commercial success. His first Grammy Award was in 2003, winning Best R&B Song for "Love of My Life," with Erykah Badu. Its popularity was matched by May 2005's Be, which was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 2006 Grammy Awards.

Common was awarded his second Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, for "Southside" (featuring Kanye West), from his July 2007 album Finding Forever. His best-of album, Thisisme Then: The Best of Common, was released on November 27, 2007. Common won the 2015 Golden Globe Award and the 2015 Academy Award for Best Original Song, for "Glory" (cvo-written with John Legend, who opened the Ravinia season on June 10) from the 2014 film Selma, in which he co-starred as Civil Rights Movement leader James Bevel. Common's acting career also includes starring significant roles in the films Smokin' Aces, Street Kings, American Gangster, Wanted, Terminator Salvation, Date Night, Just Wright, Happy Feet Two, New Year's Eve and Run All Night. He also narrated the award-winning documentary Bouncing Cats, about one man's efforts to improve the lives of children in Uganda through hip-hop/b-boy culture. He starred as Elam Ferguson on the AMC western television series Hell on Wheels.

Taylor Bennett is a 21-year-old independent artist from Chicago, Illinois. The younger brother of Chance The Rapper is changing the game with his lyrical style, flow and heart pounding live shows. Bennett's rise has been meteoric, selling out shows all over Chicago and being featured on the cover of The Chicago Reader as "The next up in Chicago." Bennett has opened for Vic Mensa, Nas, YG & Curren$y. Premiering his recent project "Broad Shoulders" with Rolling Stone, Bennett said, "We're really trying to build our own industry."

Anthony "The Twilite Tone" Khan is a BMI Award winning, Grammy-nominated producer, songwriter, and DJ. Tone grew up in Chicago in the mid 80s and early 90s. Surrounded by the diverse range of sounds the city offered during that period, Tone embraced the abstract and the concrete, walking the line between deep house (Ron Hardy, Frankie Knuckles, Andre Hatchett, Lil Louis) and hip hop (Schoolly D, Divine Force, Sir Ibu, Ultramagnetic MCs). He co-wrote 3 tracks on Kanye's & GOOD Music's Cruel Summer, including the lead single "Mercy" which reached No.1 on Billboard's US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and US Rap Songs Charts that went 2x Platinum, "Don't Like.1", and "The One".

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