Set for its third sold-out year in a row, the great-fun, high-energy Gospel Brunch is coming up quickly at Tivoli Too! on Sunday, March 9. Tickets are still available at this time, but this is truly one of Laguna Beach Live’s most popular events – there are normally no tickets remaining at the door.
The event features a Tivoli Too! hot and cold brunch (with champagne!) beginning at 11 a.m., with the show running from 11:30 a.m. to about 1 p.m.
For its first two years, Laguna Beach Live! brought in gospel great Y’ye Evans, and the Tivoli crowd adored the woman. Not to be outdone, this year features her own daughter, Ava Dupree, who most definitely inherited her mother’s set of pipes.
Loaded with energy, a beautiful sense of humor and a history of singing that goes all the way back to her four-year-old warble in the church choir, Ava says she’s been singing gospel music since she was “in utero.”
Born into a home with seven siblings and a father who was a popular minister in Knoxville, Tenn., Ava says her entire family made up the choir.
“I was singing before I knew I could sing,” she says.
She began piano lessons at the age of six, and then took up the flute and tenor sax, too. Ava credits her gospel/blues/jazz singing style to favorite mentors James Cleveland and his gospel choirs, Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Tom Jones and her own mother.
While she’s sung on stage in hundreds of situations, Ava has also recorded albums and multiple film scores, and writes her own songs and poetry.
At Tivoli, Ava is bringing an entire band of phenomenal musicians with her, and it promises to be a “foot-stompin, soul-energizing” event that will raise the very rafters. Personally, this is one event I love (though my cheeks hurt afterward from all that grinning).
Tickets are $50/person and may be purchased online at Laguna Beach Live! or by calling 800-595-4849.