Michael McDOnald & Boz Scaggs Set For PlayhouseSquare July 26

The iconic voices of Michael McDonald and BOZ SCAGGS will be heard in concert at PlayhouseSquare's State Theatre Tues., July 26th at 8 pm.

Michael McDonald's path of blue-eyed soul took him from his early days with Steely Dan to hits as a Doobie Brothers member, to his own inevitable solo career and five Grammy Awards. The singer-songwriter's distinctive and soulful husky vibrato poured out such hits as "What A Fool Believes," "Takin' It To The Streets," "It Keeps You Runnin'," "You Belong to Me," "I Keep Forgettin'," and duets with Patti LaBelle ("On My Own") and James Ingram ("Yah Mo Be There"). In addition to his solo hits, that unmistakable voice made him the world's most sought-after session singer, on tracks from Elton John and Aretha Franklin to Ray Charles and Vince Gill.

When not performing, McDonald is busy with the label Ramp Records, which he owns with actor Jeff Bridges and producer Chris Pelonis. But the trappings of fame have been eschewed in favor of family time and humanitarian efforts, the most recent of which was performing at Kokua For Japan, a concert that raised $1.6 million to aid in the tsunami relief.

Joining McDonald July 26th at PlayhouseSquare is another pre-eminent pop-R&B hit maker, Boz Scaggs, whose Silk Degrees album became one of the landmark pop albums of the Seventies. Also a GRAMMY winner, Scaggs' famous chartbusters include "Lido Shuffle," "Lowdown," "Georgia" and "JoJo." Just like McDonald's easy shift between music genres, a critic also recently noted of Scaggs that it is "a rarity to come across a modern-day artist with the chops to alternate between so many different genres and actually do it well."

But music isn't the only thing Scaggs "does well." In addition to his businesses as a founder/co-owner of San Francisco music scene live clubs "Slim's" and "The Great American Music Hall," Scaggs has added another hit to his repertoire: elegant, multi-layered French-style red and rosé wines he grows on his Napa certified-organic vineyards and orchards.

(Tickets for Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs July 26th at 8 pm are on sale at The PlayhouseSquare Ticket Office; playhousesquare.org or 216-241-6000. Prices: $60, $50, $45, $35 & $10 Smart Seats.

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