Ruth Leon recommends…. Cynthia Erivo at the Albert Hall

 Cynthia Erivo 

Click here to watch

Cynthia Chinasaokwu Onyedinmanasu Amarachukwu Owezuke Echimino Erivo celebrates her 38th birthday this week. I’m being pernickety about her proper name as I was rightly taken to task recently for spelling it incorrectly three times in a single Ruth Leon’s Theatrewise.

Once in a generation a singer comes along who speaks to our time and to history. I think Cynthia Erivo is one of those. Last time I got these shivers was the first time I heard Amy Winehouse but thankfully, Erivo doesn’t have those demons and one can listen to her free of the nerves that used to make you feel something awful either had or was just about to happen.

This one is just joy. I find the fingernails and the ring in her nose a bit distracting but, then, I’m old and don’t understand the fashions of the young but you can forget any distractions, and the overblown orchestral arrangements and even the rock show reactions of the sold-out Proms audience.

Here she is in a glorious concert from the Albert Hall singing songs made famous by the great divas of the past – Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Roberta Flack, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne – songs that we know and love, performed thrillingly by a singer from our own generation who understands their meaning and is paying homage to her progenitors.

Many of you will know her from her excellent performance in the movie of Wicked. For the length of this concert, forget Wicked. She’s so much more than being green. This is a singer who really knows what she’s doing. Listen to the god-given voice, appreciate the musicianship, and the charm that’s real and all hers.

She’s an original, a great star in the making and, unless I miss my guess, she’s going to be us with for a long time. And she’s ours, a truly British star.

Read more

The post Ruth Leon recommends…. Cynthia Erivo at the Albert Hall appeared first on Slippedisc.