Thursday, March 28, 2024

Annie Lennox Brings ‘Summertime,’ ‘Strange Fruit’ to PBS (First Look)

"Great Performances – Annie Lennox: Nostalgia Live in Concert." Credit: Robert Sebree
“Great Performances – Annie Lennox: Nostalgia Live in Concert.” Credit: Robert Sebree

*You watched Annie Lennox put a spell on the audience at the Grammys in February. There will be more where that came from when PBS airs its new Great Performances special next month, “Annie Lennox: Nostalgia Live in Concert.”

The “Nostalgia” album, released in September, represents the singer’s foray into jazz via material from the Great American Songbook.

Her rendition of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell on You” appears on the album and she’ll perform it again, along with “Nostalgia” tracks “Summertime,” “Georgia On My Mind,” “God Bless the Child,” “Strange Fruit” and more during the one hour special, taped at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles in January.

Annie Lennox appears on PBS' "Tavis Smiley"
Annie Lennox appears on PBS’ “Tavis Smiley”

It was her cover of “Strange Fruit” that made headlines in October, when she was asked about it by Tavis Smiley and never mentioned that the 1936 Billie Holiday song is specifically about the lynching of African Americans in the South. The blog Gawker was the first to claim that her explanation of “Strange Fruit” was “whitewashed.”

Speaking to the TCA in January, Lennox said the criticism was “painful, so painful I can’t even begin to tell you … because I’m the last person that would disrespect that history.”

Below, Lennox explains in detail why she did not specifically mention lynching, and gives her opinion of the blog that first pointed it out:

The Great Performances special “Annie Lennox: Nostalgia Live in Concert” airs Friday, April 3 at 10 p.m. on PBS. (Check local listings.)

Below, clips of Lennox performing “Summertime” and “Georgia On My Mind” from the broadcast, followed by the trailer:

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