News

Lionel Richie, Diana Ross tribute opens downtown

Donny Sykes performs music of Lionel Richie.

By Bill Moss, Published: September 29, 2017

Summer may be drawing to a close, but fall is heating up at Flat Rock Playhouse with a brand new Music on the Rock paying tribute to five-time Grammy winner Lionel Richie and the lead singer of Motown’s most successful act, Diana Ross.The show opened Thursday.

Richie and Ross, singers, songwriters, actors and record producers in their own right, remain two of the most celebrated and best-selling artists of all time in their group and solo careers.

Richie, originally a member of popular soul group The Commodores, went on to have an unmatched solo career that earned him five Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a Lifetime Achievement award and the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award.

Ross, who gained international popularity as the lead singer of the world’s best-selling girl groups of all time, The Supremes, led a career equally unrivaled. Having released countless record-setting titles with the Supremes, Ross went on to  an award-winning solo career and won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a Golden Globe, a Kennedy Center Honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, “Female Entertainer of the Century” by Billboard magazine and “The Most Successful Female Music Artist in History” by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Featuring classics by these two phenomenal artists such as “Say You, Say Me”, “Endless Love”, “Stuck on You”, “Love Hangover”, “Truly”, and “Three Times a Lady”, the tribute stars Donny Sykes and Ebony Blake, backed by the band made up of made up of music director Will Moss on keyboards, Casey Cramer on guitar, Trevor Stoia on bass and Phill Bronson on drums.

Executive Producer for The Music of Lionel Richie & Diana Ross is United Way of Henderson County, along with Downtown Series Sponsor, Rug & Home. Special thanks to Opening Night Sponsor BMW of Asheville and Official Transportation Sponsor, Hunter Automotive Group!

The Music of Lionel Richie & Diana Ross runs through Oct. 8 at the Flat Rock Playhouse Downtown, 125 South Main St. Performances are 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $15-30 and can be purchased by calling the Playhouse Box Office at 828-693-0731, toll-free at 866-732-8008 or online at www.flatrockplayhouse.org.