GRAMMY Award-winning Freddie Jackson and featuring Lo-Key? are coming to the Orpheum Theatre in Wichita, Kansas on Saturday, March 12th. The event will be hosted by funny man comedian Joe Torry. All artist or groups will be performing with live bands.

Since 1985 singer Freddie Jackson has recorded a string of pop hits, his romantic ballads especially capturing the hearts of female listeners. His debut album, Rock Me Tonight, was the number-one soul album for sixteen straight weeks, and his second LP, Just Like the First Time, also went platinum. Rolling Stone record critic Rob Hoerburger described Jackson as the “perfected … vocal persona of the smooth-sailing love man eager to please and be pleased.” In his article for Rolling Stone on the new male soul singers, Vince Aletti similarly observed that like fellow love balladeer Luther Vandross, Jackson taps the “pure pop romanticism that’s at the heart of contemporary soul.” But where Vandross distinguishes his love songs with his vocal virtuosity, “Jackson is more the pillow-talking love man,” wrote Aletti, trading “showoffy moves” for “hushed intimacy” and “trust-in-me sincerity.” New York Times writer Peter Watrous agreed: “Mr. Jackson … is one of black pop’s most elegant performers, a singer who can turn a heartbreak ballad into a world view.”

The third of five children, growing up poor in New York’s Harlem, Jackson got his musical start as a gospel singer at Mt. Nebo Baptist Church. A child soloist, the singer sometimes moved the congregation to tears–learning early how to captivate an audience. Later discovered by singer Melba Moore while performing in a New York nightclub, Jackson toured with her as a back-up vocalist in the mid-1980s, his cameo solos sparking the interest of industry heavyweights and audiences alike. As a solo artist, Jackson has enjoyed consistent success with best-selling recordings and sold-out concerts (often showcasing the work of rising young songwriters), his polished presentation and pure tones appealing to both blacks and whites.

Lo-Key? is an American R&B band that formed in Kansas City Missouri and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their single, “I Got a Thang 4 Ya!” (1993), reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart, and No. 27 on the Hot 100.

Lo-Key? consists of singer/trumpeter Darron “D” Story, singer/multi-instrumentalist Andre “Dre” Shepard, bassist Tyrone “T-Bone” Yarbrough, producer/keyboardist Lance Alexander and rapper/singer Tony “Prof-T” Tolbert. The group honed their skills around the Minneapolis club circuit, where Alexander and Tolbert became in-house producers for Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis ‘ Flyte Tyme Productions. The group signed to Jam & Lewis’ record label, Perspective Records, and released their debut album, Where Dey At?, on October 6, 1992. They had a hit with the single “I Got A Thang 4 Ya!” in 1992, which spent a week at No. 1 on Billboard Hot R&B Singles on the Hot 100.