“If I Didn’t Care” Starring The World Famous Ink Spots Opens at Clarion Hotel Jan. 8
From the Depression-era hit record to Fred Sanford’s favorite song to the soundtrack of the Academy Award nominated film The Sawshank Redemption, “If I Didn’t Care” has become part of American pop culture. Now, it’s also a new Las Vegas show starring The World Famous Ink Spots.
Premiering Jan. 8, 2011, “If I Didn’t Care” will be presented every Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in the Ray Wolf Theater at the Clarion Hotel and Casino (formerly Greek Isles), 305 Convention Center Drive.
The Ink Spots’ 1939 recording of the song sold more than 19 million copies, making it one of the biggest-selling singles of all time. A Grammy Hall of Fame recording and #271 on the “Songs of the Century List,” “If I Didn’t Care” has been featured on the soundtracks of numerous films, television series and video games and, of course, was frequently sung by character Fred G. Sanford (Redd Foxx) on the 1970’s TV series “Sanford and Son.”
One of the first African-American vocal groups to gain acceptance with white audiences, the original Ink Spots quartet included Orville “Hoppy” Jones, Ivory “Deek” Watson, Jerry Daniels and Charlie Fuqua. Together, they helped define the American musical genre that created rhythm & blues, doo-wap and rock & roll.
Today, The World Famous Ink Spots feature vocalists Fareed Braxton, Flery Bursey, Eddie “Coco” Stancil and leader Lou Ragland, the guitarist and baritone vocalist of George Holmes’ Ink Spots, which was formed in the mid-1960’s with original Ink Spot Charlie Fuqua.
Although the faces, names and voices have changed over the years, the music and the memories live on in this production with The World Famous Ink Spots performing not only “If I Didn’t Care,” but also many of the original quartet’s other hits, including “I Don’t Want To Set the World on Fire,” “My Prayer” and “Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall.” Plus, the group also performs Ink Spots-style arrangements of popular hits by contemporary vocal groups from The Temptations to Boyz II Men.
Also featured in this new show will be comic-ventriloquist Michele LaFong, who has headlined at MGM Grand, the Flamingo Hotel & Casino and other Las Vegas showrooms, plus emcee Marcus Mandrake.
Tickets are available by calling the Box Office at 702-990-1524 or may be purchased online at www.WolfTheaterLasVegas.com or www.InkSpotsNow.com. General Admission is $32.95 (Live Entertainment Tax included). A “Dinner and Show” Package is also available at $49.95.
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