“I’m going to be singing this complete time, so prepare,” one attendee laughingly declared to her neighboring seatmates at Stevie Surprise’s annual Home Stuffed with Toys Profit Live performance. However to not fear.
Surprise and his friends — together with Gregory Porter, Trombone Shorty and Jody Watley — had everybody inside Los Angeles’ sold-out Microsoft Theater singing and dancing alongside to every observe Saturday night (Dec. 17). Simply Surprise enjoying a couple of notes on his harmonica within the wings earlier than strolling onstage with the night’s musical director/longtime pal Rickey Minor was sufficient to ship the viewers right into a cheering frenzy even earlier than the live performance acquired underway.
Home Stuffed with Toys, offered by Surprise’s nonprofit We Are You Basis, advantages youngsters, individuals with disabilities and households in want with concertgoers donating an unwrapped toy. Now in its 24th yr, the performer lineup featured Trombone Shorty who had attendees second-lining a la his native New Orleans when he joined Surprise onstage for an exuberant romp by “Sir Duke.” Previous to that, Jody Watley took followers on her personal nostalgia tour, performing her 1989 R&B/pop hit “Actual Love” earlier than segueing right into a basic from the standard vacation particular A Charlie Brown Christmas, “Christmas Time Is Right here.”
Trombone Shorty performs on the twenty fourth Home Stuffed with Toys Profit Live performance on Dec. 17, 2022.
Lester Cohen for Surprise Productions Inc.
In the meantime, Gregory Porter’s sonorous voiced blanketed the venue with “Take Me to the Alley,” the title monitor to his 2016 album. “That’s what we’re right here for,” added Porter afterwards, referencing the hungry, homeless and others going by life struggles. “That’s why I needed to sing that tune.”
Rounding out the lineup of performers had been Tina and Teddy Campbell, the John Paul McGee Trio with Amber Bullock, Kimberly Brewer and Surprise’s daughters Zaiah and Nyah. The pair danced collectively on a vacation tune that Surprise recorded within the late ‘60s, “One Little Christmas Tree,” and returned later to sing together with their dad on the usual “The Christmas Music.” Fortunate Daye was additionally scheduled to carry out however canceled owing to not feeling properly.
As all the time in years previous for this vacation live performance — and with no offense to the visitor stars who’ve appeared — the night time belonged to Surprise. The legend gave nearly as good as he acquired from an already enthusiastic viewers that grew to become extra ecstatic every time he sat down on the keyboards or piano and easily sang. Early within the present, Surprise boosted the festive spirit already resonating across the venue when he carried out “What Christmas Means to Me,” singing to the unique instrumental monitor recorded again within the ‘60s.
Shifting from a raucous sing-along to “I Want,” certainly one of his many classics, Surprise celebrated the 50th anniversary of his 1972 album Speaking E-book. Starting with “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” he then saluted his late ex-wife and co-writer Syreeta Wright (“Such an exquisite spirit”) with the transferring “Blame It on the Solar” earlier than closing the E-book suite with an emotional activate “You and I (We Can Conquer the World).”
Stated a tearful Surprise after an ensuing standing ovation, “I like all of you a lot. I give all reward to God for all of the songs I’ve written or co-written. In the event you perceive love, you may’t spend one second entertaining the spirit of hate … Let’s present the world find out how to love once more.”
With the clock ticking all the way down to after 11 p.m., Surprise gifted the viewers with a mini-concert. The set listing included “Do I Do,” “I Love You Extra” with the aforementioned Brewer, “As,” “Ribbon within the Sky,” “I Simply Referred to as to Say I Love You,” “Dwelling for the Metropolis” and “Greater Floor.” Closing with one other Speaking E-book choice, the crowd-pleaser “Superstition,” Surprise introduced his youngsters and the live performance’s complete employees onstage.
Earlier than strolling offstage to “One other Star,” a smiling Surprise mentioned, “I wished to provide you all the whole lot I may provide you with … I like you; God bless you — and we’re completed!”
