St. Cecilia Music Center (SCMC) presents versatile singer- songwriter Marc Cohn in concert on Thursday, April 11, 2024, as the final Acoustic Café Folk Series concert this season. After winning a GRAMMY® Award for “Best New Artist” for his soulful ballad “Walking in Memphis,” Marc Cohn solidified his place as one of this generation’s most compelling singer-songwriters, combining the precision of a brilliant tunesmith with the passion of a great soul man. Rooted in the rich ground of American rhythm and blues, soul and gospel and possessed of a deft storyteller’s pen, he weaves vivid, detailed, often drawn-from-life tales that evoke some of our most universal human feelings: love, hope, faith, joy, and heartbreak.
St. Cecilia Music Center Executive & Artistic Director Cathy Holbrook states, “We couldn’t be happier to have Marc Cohn in concert again at St. Cecilia Music Center! Such a versatile balladeer on stage, he’s an amazing singer-songwriter that hits all the heart strings through his voice and music. We had to cancel multiple dates with him during Covil-19, so to finally bring him back to perform here is a thrill! “
Tickets for Marc Cohn are available for $65 and $50 at scmcgr.org or by calling 616-459-2224.
St. Cecilia Music Center has recently been selected by readers of Grand Rapids Magazine as a nominee for “Best Local Music Series”!
Remaining Concerts in the 2023/2024 Season:
Acoustic Café Folk Series
Marc Cohn
Thursday, April 11, 2024
A section $65
B section $50
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
String Magic
April 18, 2024
A section $50
B section $35
C section $20
Spectacular Jazz Series
Samara Joy
Tuesday, March 26, 2024 – Sold Out
Bio – Marc Cohn
Marc Cohn was born on July 5, 1959, in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from Beachwood High School in Beachwood, a Cleveland suburb. Marc Cohn learned to play guitar and started writing songs and singing in a local band while he was in junior high school. After high school, he attended Oberlin College in Ohio where he taught himself to play the piano. Once he transferred to UCLA, he began to perform in Los Angeles-area coffeehouses.
Cohn released his debut solo album, Marc Cohn, at the age of 30. The album became extremely successful due his hit single “Walking in Memphis”, which was nominated for “Song of the Year” and “Best Pop Vocal” at the 1992 GRAMMY® Awards. He ended up winning “Best New Artist” at the GRAMMY® Awards that year.
In May 1993, Cohn released his second studio album, The Rainy Season, which included notable guest appearances by David Crosby, Graham Nash, and Bonnie Raitt.
Cohn was quiet for several years, returning in 1998 with the release of his third solo effort, Burning the Daze. He was joined on the album by popular artists, including country music’s Rosanne Cash. The following year he contributed to Kris Kristofferson’s highly collaborative Austin Sessions and that same year added vocals to recordings by Roseanne Cash, Shawn Colvin, and Rodney Crowell. In 2002, Cohn added vocals for Jackson Browne’s “Naked Ride Home”. Many of Cohn’s original tunes have been recorded by popular singers, including Susan Anton and John Tesh.
In 2005, Cohn compiled and self-released a live album, Live 04-05.
On Marc Cohn’s release “Dance Back from the Grave”, from his album Join the Parade, released in 2007, he writes and sings about the events of Hurricane Katrina as well as the post-traumatic stress he suffered after being shot in the head in an attempted carjacking (in August 2005).
In 2010, Cohn returned with the album Listening Booth: 1970, a collection of cover songs about the year 1970 – The album peaked at number 28 on the Billboard 200 album chart. In addition to crossing genres from rock to soul to folk and pop, it featured vocal performances from India.Arie, Jim Lauderdale, Aimee Mann, and Kristina Train.
In 2016, Cohn released the album Careful What You Dream: Lost Songs and Rarities in celebration of the 25th anniversary of his platinum-selling debut album. He also simultaneously released a bonus album, Evolution of a Record, which featured never-before-heard songs and demos.
In 2017, Cohn worked with William Bell, popular American soul singer-songwriter, on his GRAMMY® Award-winning album This Is Where I Live. He co-wrote several tracks on the album, including the opener, “The Three of Me”. Cohn also collaborated with the Blind Boys of Alabama on their GRAMMY® nominated song “Let My Mother Live”.
2019 was a big performance and recording year for Marc Cohn. He performed at Carnegie Hall at “The Music of Van Morrison” show, which benefited music education programs for the New York City school system. Cohn performed “Walking in Memphis” alongside Miley Cyrus at the 2019 Memphis in May Festival as part of the “More Together” campaign. “Walking in Memphis” was the center of a national commercial for the “More Together” Facebook campaign. He also released the “Work to Do” album and several live performances in a collaboration with the Blind Boys of Alabama in 2019. “Work to Do” is comprised of three studio tracks by Marc Cohn and The Blind Boys, (two originals and a version of the gospel standard “Walking to Jerusalem”) and seven intimate live performances recorded at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook, Connecticut during a taping of the PBS series The Kate, which premiered on May 24th, 2019.
