7^th ANNUAL ST. LOUIS BLUES FESTIVAL BRINGS RHYTHM AND SOUL TO CHAIFETZ ARENA ON FEBRUARY 25

 St. Louis-native Shirley Brown headlines the 7^th Annual St. Louis Blues Festival at Chaifetz (SHAY-fetz) Arena at Saint Louis University on Saturday, February 25 at 7 p.m.  Mel Waiters, Sir Charles Jones, Millie Jackson, Bobby Rush and Theodis Ealey are also scheduled to perform.

Tickets are $49.50 and $59.50 and are available at MetroTix.com, charge by phone at 314-534-1111 and the Chaifetz Arena Box Office.

Cutting her teeth in church at the age of ten, Shirley Brown, earned a reputation in the gospel circles around St. Louis for delivering powerful solos.  Brown parlayed that success to a recording career in 1974 where her debut single “Woman to Woman” peaked at the top spot on the Billboard R&B charts and yielded a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year.

R&B singer Mel Waiters first began his performing career at local teen clubs in San Antonio.  After a stint as a radio disc jockey, Waiters was awarded a government contract to entertain at military bases across the country and later released the albums Suki-Suki Man and Women in Need.

Sir Charles Jones worked under the guidance of Sease and was later crowned “The King of Southern Soul.”    The American Blues Network honored Jones with the International Entertainer of the Year award four years in a row (2001-2004) and the B.B. King Achievement Award in 2003 and 2004.

Millie Jackson’s singing career reportedly began on a dare to enter a Harlem nightclub talent contest in 1964, which she won.  Winning the bet by performing resulted in Jackson’s metamorphic rise from a fledgling performer to a world-renown electrifying entertainer.  Her career has yielded such power singles including “Ask Me What You Want,” “It Hurts so Good” and “If You’re Not Back in Love by Monday.”

In 2008, Bobby Rush took home the Blues Music Award for “Best Male Soul Blues Artist.”  For the past four decades, Rush has been thrilling audiences around the world with his stellar showmanship.  His current release “Raw” is full of acoustic guitar, harmonica and foot stamping percussion.  Living Blues Magazine honored Bobby Rush with the Best Live Performer of the Year award in 1995.  In 1996 and 1997, he captured the Real Blues Magazine award as The Best Soul/R&B Live Performer.

Blues guitarist Theodis Ealey is a Mississippi native who first learned to play the instrument when he was four years old.  His 2004 release “Stand Up In It” was a runaway success as the #1 single on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip Hop chart for five consecutive weeks, debuting at #5 on Billboard’s Blues Album chart and #69 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip Hop chart.

Global Spectrum (global-spectrum.com) manages Chaifetz Arena as well as more than 100 other public assembly facilities around the world. Nearly 20-million people attended more than 11,000 events in Global Spectrum venues last year. Based in Philadelphia, PA, Global Spectrum is part of Comcast-Spectacor, one of the world’s largest sports and entertainment companies. Comcast-Spectacor also owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, Ovations Food Services, a food and beverage services provider, New Era Tickets, a full-service ticketing and marketing product for public assembly facilities, Paciolan, the leading provider of venue establishment ticketing, fundraising and marketing technology solutions, Front Row Marketing Services, a commercial rights sales company, and Flyers Skate Zone, a series of community ice skating rinks.