Lionel Young Band with Erica Brown Logo

Dazzle

Lionel Young Band with Erica Brown


Dazzle @ The Arts Complex

1080 14th Street, Denver, CO

This event is All Ages

Musical Style: Blues

Lionel Young is a high energy performer with a bent for the blues. His LIONEL YOUNG BAND, winners of numerous awards for best in and around the Colorado region, have won the 2011 International Blues Challenge (IBC) band competition. Added to his victory at the 2008 IBC in the solo-duo category, that makes Lionel Young the first double champion in the history of the IBC.

Fans of the driven, classically trained Young love his distinctive brand of blues on the electric violin. His show features not only Young originals but interpretations of blues classics by Willie Dixon, Leadbelly and Stevie Ray Vaughan, along with the strength and passion of Young’s playing, his smooth vocals and unique translations. The songs, which include his award-winning composition ” Brown Cloud Over Denver” and “Hey, O.J.,” a controversial little gem, alternately stir up social concerns and soothe the weary soul. It’s prime. It’s fun. It’s Lionel Young.

Born in Rochester, New York, Lionel Young began taking violin lessons at the age of six with Anastasia Jempelis at the Eastman School of Music. He studied with Herbert Greenberg in Pittsburgh, Josef Gingold at Indiana University, and Fritz Siegel at Carnegie Mellon University. He was a member of the Pittsburgh Opera-Ballet Orchestra and the National Repertory Orchestra which commissioned him to play bluegrass and blues for their summer festival and on a tour of Japan, Taiwan, and Korea during the 1988 Summer Olympic Music Festival.

Throughout his career, Mr. Young has won numerous awards including the Young Artist Award (Pittsburgh Symphony); The Concerto Contest (Carnegie-Mellon); The Passamenic Award (Branchwood String Quartet); and the award for the Best Blues Band 3 times in Westword’s Best of Denver. He’s also won a position with The Denver Chamber Orchestra and premiered a solo piece by William Hill.

Lionel has had the honor of working with such show biz luminaries as: Count Basie, James Taylor, Stevie Wonder, Jimmy Paige/Robert Plant, Doc Severenson, Linda Ronstadt, Living Color, Tab Benoit, Los Lobos, Elvin Bishop, Woodie Herman, Stanley Turrentine, Homesick James, Homer Brown, Hamlet Bluiett, Chief Bae, and Johnny Long.

Miss Erica Brown - A short Biography

Miss Erica Brown is a Singer, Songwriter, Recording Artist, Actress, Activist and Media Personality based in Denver, Colorado.

From her beginnings as a child of the Civil Rights Era of the 60's in Southeast Missouri, Erica has had a long and stellar career as a Blues Vocalist. She has performed with many of the greats in Blues and Soul, including BB King, Al Green, Delbert McClinton, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Eddie 9Volt, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, and many others. Her voice has taken her all over the world!

In 2013, Erica, as a member of Dan Treanor's Afrosippi Band, won 3rd Place Honors in the International Blues Challenge sponsored by the Blues Foundation;

In 2016, Erica appeared as a double-page photo spread in the Smithsonian Magazine's historic Companion issue coinciding with the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC);

Erica has been awarded Colorado’s Historic Five Points Jazz Festival™’s Tribute Award for significant and lasting contributions to African-American music in Colorado and Nationally;

In 2019 Erica was a recipient of The Colorado Blues Society's Lifetime Achievement Award;

In 2021, Erica was honored with inclusion in the International Book Series Phenomenon, Chicken Soup for the Soul, with a chapter written by her in their newest publication "I'm Speaking Now: Black Women Share Their Truth in 101 Stories of Love, Courage and Hope;

Also, 2022 saw the release of the Music Project "Moja: A Music Saga", by 3-time Grammy Winner Bobby Rush, in which Erica has contributing vocals. This effort garnered first-round Grammy consideration;

Also in 2025 Erica will soon release her own CD Project entitled "Willie Mae Sings Willie Mae", a Tribute to Blues Pioneer the great Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton!

AND Make any night special with our Date Night Package. $45 for a delightful bottle of wine and a decadent dessert to share. Add it to your evening by emailing host@dazzledenver.com.

For more information go to https://www.dazzledenver.com/dazzle-date-night-package/