![]() ![]() He has dedicated many of his performances to charities, helping to raise more than $30,000,000 for nonprofits around the world.įor information about Ethan Bortnick, including videos of his performances, visit The Center for the Performing Arts is offering a special discount for Current readers, buy one ticket, and get one for free. His heart is as big as his talent and Ethan has moved audiences nationally and internationally as a singer, songwriter, composer, and entertainer. A belief that he maintains today, and famously uttered at age seven on “The Oprah Winfrey Show, is, “We have to stay humble.” Sometimes it changes nightly.”ĭespite Ethan’s extraordinary abilities, he remains a grounded young man. Thankfully, I have a great band and we change the key to whatever we need for that night. I am at that age and often find I have to sing in a lower key. One of Ethan’s favorite musicians, impresario Quincy Jones, said of Ethan, “his ability to create music from stories is unbelievable.”Īsked about being at an age when his voice is changing. Today, during his concert shows, he gauges the audience’s reactions to his songs and then chooses from a memory bank of several hundred songs. At that early age, his parents discovered he had the uncanny ability to hear a song once and play it back note for note. He began playing piano at age three and began composing at age five. At 10, he was also certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest solo musician to headline his own concert tour.Įthan has the musical equivalent of a photographic memory. At 10, he was the youngest artist to headline a Las Vegas show. Many of the accolades begin with the word “youngest.” At nine, he was the youngest artist to have his own PBS concert show. Ethan said at one point Elton John told him he should study Chopin.Įthan took the advice to heart: “When Elton John tells you to learn Chopin, you learn Chopin.”Įthan already has an impressive list of accomplishments under his belt. He also does a good impression of Elton John. During the course of the show, he performs everything from classical to pop, from Beethoven to the Beatles. From those few notes, in a matter of minutes, Ethan composes an entire, fully formed song. One of the most popular portions of the show is when Ethan solicits an audience member to come on stage and play the ringtone on their phone. Ethan is engaging, spontaneous and fun-loving. I want them to know it’s going to be a really good time … fun for the whole family … for 2-year-olds to 92-year-olds!” When asked what he would like people to know about his upcoming performance in Carmel, Ethan said: “I’d love for everyone to come to the show, especially families. Bortnick, who sings and plays the piano, will be joined by popular 22-year-old Irish singer and actor, Damian McGinty of Celtic Thunder and “Glee.” Additionally, the Indianapolis Children’s Choir will join the entertainers on stage.Ĭurrent caught up with Ethan by phone just a few minutes before he and his manager-father, Gene, were to catch a flight as part of a leg of his 60-city “The Power of Music” tour. Get ready to be surprised and entertained by a young man Oprah dubbed “one of the world’s smartest and most talented kids.” Ethan Bortnick, 13-year-old prodigy and musical phenomenon, will play at 7 p.m., Oct. “They’re not gonna play that on the radio.Ethan Bortnick, 13-year-old prodigy and musical phenomenon, will play the at 7 p.m., Oct. In the episode we hear archival tape of Richard reciting the next two lines in the chorus, “If you want it, you got it/ Tutti-frutti, good booty.” The lyrics, of course, could be interpreted as being about gay sex, laughs Deacon John Moore, a blues musician who recorded with Richard. Richard’s longtime keyboard player and friend Ronald “Ron” Jones adds that one day Richard jumped on the piano and played the “alop-bam-boom” riff and his producers asked about the hook they’d never heard before, even though the singer - who died in May 2020 at age 87 of bone cancer - had been using it for years while playing to Black audiences on the Chitlin’ Circuit. “‘Cause that’s all you gotta do is give Richard an audience, turn the lights on and show is on,” Blackwell says. “When we went into the Dew Drop Inn there was a piano… and that’s when I began to know and understand Little Richard,” says Specialty Records producer Robert “Bumps” Blackwell. In a Billboard exclusive clip from the show (see below), Little Richard’s bandmates and contemporaries talk about the origin story of “Tutti Frutti,” which was birthed at the raucous Dew Drop Inn in New Orleans. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |