Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--The Lyceum Series at Mississippi State will present the Freddy Cole Quartet in concert March 8 at the McComas Hall theater.
The 7:30 p.m. public performance is coinciding with the 40th anniversary observance of Richard Holmes' enrollment as the university's first African-American student. In honor of the event, MSU's Richard Holmes Cultural Diversity Center is co-sponsoring the program, which is the last of the 2004-05 season.
Holmes, a Starkville student who enrolled in the summer of 1965, now serves as a staff physician at the Longest Student Health Center on campus. He returned to his alma mater in 2003 after practicing for many years in Birmingham, Ala.
Available at the door, tickets are $10 for adults; $8, senior citizens, by request; and $6, children 3-12 years old. MSU students are admitted free with valid student identification.
Freddy Cole is the younger brother of the legendary Nat "King" Cole and an international recording artist in his own right. Known for a vocal timbre similar to his brother, the New England Conservatory of Music graduate creates his own interpretation of some jazz classics.
Cole's musical selections range from Broadway to the blues, golden-oldies of Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and Duke Ellington to the pop hits of Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder and Kenny Rogers. "In the Name of Love" is the most recent of his 14 released albums.
In addition to lead vocal, Cole plays piano, guitar and upright bass. His group--including guitarist Jerry Byrd, drummer Curtis Boyd, and bassist Zachery Pride--has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Europe, the Far East, and South America. In 2001, the quartet received a Grammy nomination For more information on the Lyceum Series program, telephone (662) 325-4201 or visit www.msstate.edu/dept/lyceum or www.freddycole.com.