Avery Sunshine

In continuing the 25th Anniversary celebration of "The Music Experience", Avery Sunshine performed to a packed house at Room 43 in Chicago. During the interview portion of "The Experience with Avery Sunshine", Avery spoke about her early beginnings in music...playing the piano at 8 years old after she saw a classmate perform, and learning to read hymns before beginning to study classical music at 11. Born Denise Nicole White, Avery performed with the award-winning Wilmington/Chester(Pennsylvania) Mass Choir, sang in her high school choir and graduated from the Country Day School of the Sacred Heart in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania in 1993. She attended Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia and although she enrolled as a piano major, Avery switched course after she became disillusioned with the music program. In 1998, Avery graduated with a degree in Philosophy. She also spoke about how she came to name herself "Avery Sunshine"!

Avery's stunning performance brought the crowd to their feet several times. Her playlist included a mixture of Rhythm and Blues, Soul, Gospel and a funky, crowd-participation song she called the "LuRetha-Jackson Medley", which was a combination of Luther Vandross' "Never Too Much", Aretha Franklin's "Jump To It" and Michael Jackson's "Rock With You". But the song that brought the house down was "Safe In His Arms", from her new cd The SunRoom. That song was written especially for her by Darius Brooks, who was also in the house. Darius joined Avery on stage for a rousing performance of the song, which sent the crowd into a freny. Avery performed other songs from her new cd, including the hit song "Call My Name". And from her debut cd AverySunshine, Avery performed "Ugly Part Of Me", in which she later told the crowd that the video was filmed here in Chicago. After her performance and a short breather, Avery greeted many of her fans and autographed lots of cds.