Umbria Jazz 2024: first names announced
Umbria Jazz, first names announced to perform at the Arena Santa Giuliana in 2024: Raye (only Italian date) on July 14, Toto on July 17, and Nile Rodgers & CHIC and Veronica Swift on July 20.
Raye (only Italian date) debuts at the Festival on July 14: she is one of the most streamed artists in the world, with over 3 billion streams of her music. Besides numerous international awards, she has a double-platinum, five platinum, four gold and four silver singles to her name. Raye is undoubtedly one of the most influential songwriters, having written for artists such as John Legend, Ellie Goulding, Khalid, David Guetta, Diplo and Beyoncé. Her new album, “My 21st Century Blues”, after 2020’s “Euphoric Sad Songs”, is a profoundly personal work composed of thirteen songs. The album touches upon different topics, including difficult experiences in the music industry, sexual abuse, rape, body dysmorphia, addiction, misogyny, and climate change.
Toto, one of the world’s top-selling touring and recording acts (28 albums and over 40 million copies), will perform on July 17. The band by Steve Lukather and company have composed songs that topped the charts and became legendary, such as “Africa”, “Hold the Line”, “Rosanna” and “Georgy Porgy”. Toto will tour Italy after the album “With a Little Help From My Friends” released a few years ago.
The album, recorded in Los Angeles, was the opportunity for Steve Lukather, Joseph Williams and David Paich to present the new band lineup featuring incredible musicians such as John Pierce, Robert ‘Sput’ Searight, Steve Maggiora, Dominique ‘Xavier’ Taplin e Warren Ham.
Nile Rodgers & CHIC will be at Umbria Jazz on July 20. They performed at the Festival in 2005. On that date, they proved, besides being a successful dance band, which was very popular in the disco era, that a rock heart would beat in that lucky formula. All this turned into an original and classic work.
Edwards’ dramatic death in 2006 and Thompson’s in 2003 left Nile Rodgers alone to carry on Chic. Rodgers succeeded and continued his career as a musician and producer, from David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” to Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”, as well as INXS, Duran Duran, Thompson Twins, Jeff Beck, Grace Jones, the B52’s. After disbanding, then reuniting, then disbanding again, Rodgers is now bringing to life the glorious epic of a sound that belongs to the history of the best pop music, not only dance, of the last thirty years.
After her debut in 2019, Veronica returns to Umbria Jazz and presents her self-titled album released in 2023, following “Confessions” (2019) and “This Bitter Earth” (2021). In this work, the artist expands her classic jazz repertoire to explore French and Italian opera, European classical music, bossa nova, blues, industrial rock, funk, and vaudeville, proving to be one of the most versatile voices of the latest years.
Tickets for Raye (July 14) and Nile Rodgers & CHIC and Veronica Swift (July 20) will be available on Thursday, November 30, at 11 am. Tickets for Toto (July 17) will be available on Wednesday, November 29, at 10 am.
