The Colors of Christmas

A native of Los Angeles, Gail Deadrick began studying classical piano at age four. She became the musical director for Natalie Cole in 2000, winning a Grammy Award as coproducer eight years later for her Still Unforgettable album.

From 1994–99, Deadrick was musical director and pianist for The Colors of Christmas tour, which featured Patti Austin, Philip Bailey, Peabo Bryson, Sheena Easton, Roberta Flack, James Ingram, Melissa Manchester, Aaron Neville, Jeffrey Osborne, and Deniece Williams. She made her San Francisco Symphony debut in December 1994.

Deadrick’s talent suits a diverse range of musical styles, including R&B, gospel, jazz, and musical theater. She has accompanied or conducted singers Nancy Wilson, Esther Phillips, Barbara Morrison, Thelma Houston, Johnny Gill, Brenda Russell, Shirley Caesar, and Daryl Coley. She has also toured with Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick, Roberta Flack, Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr., The Original 5th Dimension, the Pointer Sisters, and Maureen McGovern with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

Peabo Bryson is one of the premier male vocalists in contemporary music. Thanks to his rich, almost operatic voice, the two-time Grammy Award winner has enjoyed an ongoing career despite changing musical trends. With 20 albums to his credit, he is the first artist in music history to have separate recordings topping four different charts. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in December 1993.

Bryson, who is also a songwriter and producer, was born in 1951, in Greenville, South Carolina. He spent much of his childhood on his grandparents’ farm in nearby Mauldin. He caught his first break in a recording session for Atlanta’s Bullet, a subsidiary of Bang Records, where he soon signed a contract as a writer, producer, songwriter, performer, and arranger. In 1976 he released his self-titled debut, which featured nearly all original songs (some co-written with Thom Bell) and a young Luther Vandross among the background vocalists. From that point on, Bryson produced a string of major R&B and crossover hits, including “Feel the Fire,” “I’m So Into You,” “Tonight I Celebrate My Love,” “If Ever You’re in My Arms Again,” and “Can You Stop the Rain.”

A skilled actor, Bryson starred in the touring production of the Tony Award–winning Raisin and played the role of The Wizard on tour with The Wiz. In 1998 he appeared in the Michigan Opera Theater’s 100th anniversary production of Porgy and Bess.

Jackie Evancho is a Platinum-selling recording artist who first became a worldwide sensation at the age of 10 with her debut performance of “O mio babbino caro” on season 5 of NBC’s America’s Got Talent. Billboard has twice included Evancho on its list of “music movers-and-shakers under the age of 21.” In just over a decade, she has made 10 chart-topping albums and DVDs, headlined three successful PBS television specials, appeared in the film The Company You Keep with Robert Redford, and sung for presidents and other world leaders.

Evancho has recorded or performed with Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand, Plácido Domingo, Josh Groban, Chris Botti, Joshua Bell, Il Volo, David Foster, Andrea Bocelli, and José Carreras, among others. In 2020 she appeared as The Kitty on Fox’s The Masked Singer, where she immediately became a crowd favorite through her vocals and playful persona. During the pandemic, she explored a new direction and began songwriting. In doing so, she realized that she wanted to pay homage to one of the greatest song writers of our time, Joni Mitchell. Her most recent album, Carousel of Time, does that and has received high praise from the music industry. She previously appeared at Davies Symphony Hall in 2012 and makes her San Francisco Symphony debut with these performances.

Jennifer Holliday’s inimitable voice has riveted the hearts of audiences from around the world. Her professional journey began while singing in her church choir one Sunday in Houston, when she was discovered by A Chorus Line dancer Jamie Patterson. She made her Broadway debut in 1980 in the revival of Your Arms Are Too Short to Box With God.

Holliday was then invited to participate in Dreamgirls, which won her a Grammy Award for “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” and a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Her second album, Say You Love Me, won her a second Grammy. From 1985 to 1992, she had five Top 10 singles on the R&B and Dance Charts. Holliday’s voice appears in film soundtracks for In the Mood, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, The Five Heartbeats, Amazing Grace, Why Did I Get Married, and The Rising Place, and her television appearances include Ally McBeal, Love Boat, American Idol, The Masked Singer, and Touched by an Angel.

ln 2014 Holliday released her first album in two decades, This Song is You, landing her back in the Top 20 R&B charts, and she released her first single in 20 years, “So in Love,” which charted in the Top 5 on the R&B Indie Charts. In 2016 she returned to the theater in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple. She is a longtime dedicated supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and also supports the MS Society and advocates for mental health and suicide prevention. She made her San Francisco Symphony debut in December 2009.

Benjamin “BeBe” Winans is a six-time Grammy Award winner and the seventh child and youngest male of the Detroit-based first family of gospel music. He is known as an inspirational R&B vocalist and songwriter who, along with his musical partner and sister CeCe Winans, is among the first true Christian crossover artists to hit the mainstream. In addition to his Grammy Awards (three solo and three with CeCe), he has won 10 Dove Awards, six Stellar Awards, four NAACP Awards (three with CeCe and one with 3WB with brothers Marvin and Carvin), and three Soul Train Music Awards (two of them with sister CeCe). He has had nine Gold and Platinum recordings with CeCe, and his single from the album He Promised Me reached No. 1 on the Billboard Gospel airplay charts. As a solo artist, Winans has released seven albums with guest appearances from Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder, David Foster, Anita Baker, Whitney Houston, and other members of the Winans family.

The musical Born for This: The BeBe Winans Story, cowritten and directed by Charles Randolph-Wright with book, music, and lyrics cowritten by Winans, received critically-acclaimed productions at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta and Arena Stage in Washington, DC. As an actor, Winans has appeared with Denzel Washington in The Manchurian Candidate and in The Color Purple on Broadway. BeBe and CeCe Winans are the first brother-and-sister to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in December 2015.