Divinity Roxx, former bassist and musical director of Beyonce’s “I Am” tour, will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday at The Music Room, 327 Edgewood Ave. S.E.
Also on the bill is Atlanta-based writer and singer Eva Kennedy. Tickets are $10.
The acclaimed bassist brings her "The Dream Work Tour” to a hometown audience in Atlanta and fans expect her to “roxx “the room with her unique, funky sound and rich, vocals.
She’s neo-soul, jazz, funk, R&B and rap.
She started the tour in May. The band loaded a van in Portland and have been driving all over the country.
The city has nurtured her musically.
“Atlanta molded me and raised me as a professional musician,”said Roxx, who now lives in New York. “When I was younger the Atlanta scene was extremely eclectic. When I was growing up, I used to go watch bands like Whild Peach and Johnny Profit and these are bands that people don’t generally know. This was during the time that Outkast started to become really popular.”
She loved the grand ladies of the underground music scene They were fresh. They were original.
“I want to do that,” she said. “I want to be original.”
She, who played the clarinet in school, was already writing music and was an MC around town.
She hadn’t fallen in love with the bass - yet.
Roxx went across country to study journalism at the University of California Berkeley.
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“ I love to write, love to read, love words,” she said.
She gravitated, though, to the musicians on campus. They had jam sessions and parties.
She decided to buy a guitar. He said she should get a bass because she had this “bass player vibe.”
She attended a bass camp by bass legend Victor Wooten in Tennessee.
A few months later she was invited to tour with him. The first show was in Atlanta.
Little did she know that one day she would be touring with Beyonce.
When Beyonce was holding additions for a world tour, people suggested she go to the audition. There were several days of auditions in several cities.
At the time, though, she was necessarily wedded to an outcome.
It didn’t become real until one day she looked out and saw Beyonce and Jay-Z in the audience during an audition at Sony headquarters in New York.
Eventually, she was sharing the stage.
Although she has played with the likes of Beyonce, Patti Labelle, Erykah Badu and Bootsy Collins, Roxx is a respected musical standout in her own right.
She’s played the White House and the Grammys.
Bootsy Collins said of Roxx: “I funkin’ love her acceleration into space, time & she refuge to believe in outer limits of possibilities! My way of Stinking! Bootsy baby!!!”
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