MACY Gray and Lighthouse Family are big-name new additions to the bill for Lionel Richie’s closing night at this summer’s inaugural York Festival.
Grammy Award winner Gray, from Canton, Ohio, and Newcastle pop-soul duo Tunde Baiyewu and Paul Tucker will perform at the three-day event at York Sports Club, Clifton Park, Shipton Road, on June 21.
This is more good news for festival promoters Cuffe and Taylor after the City of York Council thumbs-up for a licence, albeit with the proviso that the volume must be turned down.
York Festival will run from June 19 to 21, with Camden Town nutty boys Madness headlining on the first night and Irish matured boy band Westlife on the Saturday, before American soul legend Lionel Richie says Hello on the Sunday.
Macy Gray made her breakthrough in 1999 with the single I Try and the seven million-selling debut album On How Life Is, her American R&B and soul song-writing inspired principally by Billie Holiday.
Over the next two decades, Gray released ten studio albums, the latest being 2018’s Ruby, as well as featuring on songs with Dolly Parton and Ariana Grande and appearing in films and on TV shows.
Lighthouse Family singer Baiyewu and keyboardist Tucker released their first single, Lifted, in 1995, en route to selling ten million albums and charting with the singles High and Ocean Drive.
Six-times platinum debut album Ocean Drive was followed by Top Ten albums Postcards From Heaven and Whatever Gets You Through The Day. After an 18-year hiatus, the duo reunited last year to record Blue Sky In Your Head, their fourth studio set.
York Festival director Peter Taylor says: “We’re delighted to add both Macy Gray and Lighthouse Family to our debut line-up. Together with the global icon that is Lionel Richie, this is going to be an amazing and unforgettable night.”
Opening-night headliners Madness will be joined by Ian Broudie’s Lightning Seeds, Craig Charles, for a Funk and Soul Club DJ set, Leeds indie rockers Apollo Junction and York band Violet Contours.
Westlife’s Saturday line-up features All Saints, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Scouting For Girls and Take That’s Howard Donald for a DJ set.
For more information and tickets, go to york-festival.com.