The ability of singer, composer, actor, and activist Wyclef Jean to channel raw emotion into one song after another has made him a champion of the world’s people. The music that he has written, performed, and produced — both as a solo superstar and as founder and guiding member of the Fugees — has been a consistently powerful, pop cultural force for over two decades.
In 1996, the Fugees released their monumental album The Score, which inspired notoriously prickly rock critic Robert Christgau to write: “so beautiful and funny, its courage could make you weep.” The album, created in Wyclef’s studio in his uncle’s basement in New Jersey, hit No. 1 on the Billboard chart, spawned a trio of smash singles (including their indelible reinvention of Roberta Flack’s 1973 ballad “Killing Me Softly”), and is now certified six times platinum.
After his success with the Fugees, Wyclef Jean launched himself as a producer and solo artist, drawing from an innovative and eclectic palette that included elements of pop, country, folk, disco, Latin, and electronic music. He has been rewarded for his creativity and adventurousness with three Grammy Awards, a spot on the cover of Rolling Stone’s special “Top 50 Hip Hop Players,” and the opportunity to make music with such legends as Michael Jackson, Queen, Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, Earth, Wind & Fire, Kenny Rogers, and Tom Jones. As a solo artist, he has released six albums that have sold nearly nine million copies worldwide.
When Wyclef Jean takes the stage with an orchestra, something primal, powerful, and beautiful happens. Dayton is thrilled to welcome him to center stage at the Schuster for one night of Symphonic Hip Hop with the Dayton Philharmonic!
A Night of Symphonic Hip Hop with Wyclef Jean
8:00 pm Saturday, February 8, 2020
Schuster Center
Tickets $32 – $102
