Danny Gokey at the Wisconsin Club Country Club on October 19th, 2016
The annual benefit for the SHF Milwaukee Area youth and arts program celebrated its fifth gala in style at the elegant WCCC location. Auction items, cocktail hour, wonderful dining, performances by the Sophia’s Heart Choir and the foundation’s founder, Danny Gokey, topped the evening!
The Sophia’s Heart Kids Choir opened the evening’s entertainment by performing covers of pop hits and an original song, too. Danny Gokey sang, “Symptoms”, “Better Than Gold”, “Long Train Running”. The Sophia’s Heart Kids Choir returned to back Danny on, “Hope in Front of Me”, “Better Than I Found It”, “My Life” and more.
The Annual Sophia’s Heart Gala celebration consistently attracts audiences composed of corporate executives, philanthropists, community leaders and donors. Proceeds raised from the gala will support at-risk youth from the Greater Milwaukee area with after school music education and visual and media arts training with possibilities they would not be possible without the donor support.
Donations are always appreciated at sophiasheart.org
My apologies for the quality of my photos and video. The lighting was NOT ideal.
Jan’s postscript: It was so great to see Danny and Leyicet warmly visiting with the guests (not just the VIPs) throughout the evening. After the concert we spent a few minutes with Danny and the band talking about his new music. I let him know how much I like the new songs. Danny told us that his music is evolving; he was very excited for us to hear it all. Danny said he thought I would like it. I told him that I am an easy sell! 😉 He said his sound was developing beyond HIFOM (the album), that it might surprise some and he could lose a few fans. Ed reassured him that we know he has to make his music his own way (and then we laughed together on whether Danny could go any other way than what he felt?!?) He did share some information on his songs that I can’t devulge at this time. But look for TWO duets to be on this new album. And with artists that will stretch his genre of music! Stay tuned: Exciting things ahead!
Danny has already lost a number of fans, Jan. First, when he didn’t go the Motown/blue-eyed soul route after Idol, but went country instead, and then again when he switched genres from country to Christian. Artists evolve, and in the process, they lose fans. That is normal. The trick is to pick up new fans to replace the ones you’ve lost, and “grow” your overall fanbase. I’m confident Danny can do that.
Thanks for the recap, Jan!
Thank you, Jan.
Thank you, Ellen. I couldn’t have said it better…
Hi Ellen and Cindy. It was sweet that Danny was so earnest when he told me he thought I’d like the new album. Seriously, Danny? Of course I will love your new music. If his voice is featured ( I swear it is getting stronger, more controlled, yet still emotional…) how could I not love it?
Danny definitely is growing his fanbase since HIFOM was released. We are seeing fans that don’t even know he was on “American Idol” and a lot of fans of Christian music that lost track of him when he went to country music after Idol. Not sure the Spanish album has added a lot of fans, yet. But hopefully it is making some international inroads, too.
I think HIFOM sold only 7,500 – 8,500 copies in its release week in 2014. (I did reach #1 on the Billboard Christian Album chart). I expect that the next album will do even better. And hopefully will be timed well enough to get another #1.
I hope I like Danny’s new music. I don’t know what to expect. If he does Christian rap, I won’t like that direction.
Also, I want to understand what he is singing–unless it’s Spanish. His Spanish songs are pretty. I don’t care that I can’t understand them. But some songs–like some by M&M (I know that is not the correct spelling–I just like spelling the name that way) are difficult for me to understand. I admit I don’t try very hard. A little bit of listening to that kind of music was enough for me.
Lurker, you aren’t a fan of Eminem? 🙂 I have a couple of his CDs. We took our kids to see his autobiographical movie “8 Mile” way back in their teenage years. 😉
But I also took them to see Danny 🙂
We have pretty eclectic music tastes in our household….. hard rock, rap, jazz, alternative rock, southern country, country, pop, even zydeco… are represented. Can you believe Christian was the one we didn’t know? Other than the crossover hits like “I Can Only Imagine”?
When Danny turned to CCM, I found my local CCM station and started finding Christian artists I like…. Like the Newsboys, Citizen Way, Steven Curtis Chapman, Casting Crowns, Toby Mac….
don’t like fast-talking, can’t-understand-words songs, don’t like yelling songs, don’t like loud songs, don’t like boring songs, don’t like mean songs, don’t like name-calling songs…
also don’t like vocal gymnastics, showing-off-the-voice songs that are meant to do only that with lots of big notes and sounds but no pleasant music 🙁