Out local singer and performer Eddie Bruce is about add to another highlight to his long and storied career when he makes his debut performance with the Philly POPS Oct. 11-13 at Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall.
For Bruce, sharing a stage with the POPS has been a long-standing dream.
“I would say only about 20 years,” Bruce said about how long he has been waiting for this opportunity.
Having been performing since he was a child and later becoming a renowned performer both locally and nationally, it is surprising that Bruce hasn’t been called up to perform previously with the POPS, which has had an equally long and illustrious career.
But Bruce said he had an obstacle preventing that from happening until now.
“Frankly, Peter Nero, who was the founder of the POPS and conductor for 30 or 40 years, ruled it with an iron fist,” he said. “He turned me down for all those years. He was very reluctant to put local talent on that stage. He’d bring unknown but great singers from New York before he’d use local talent. He’s brilliant and he made POPS what it is today. All I can say is he had his way of doing things. I don’t have any animosity about it. But as soon as he left, I saw an opening and I talked to the people on the POPS board and they got my stuff to the new conductor who listened to it and liked it. He wanted to start his tenure with a tribute to Philly. So it was natural to get me up there.”
The Philly POPS are kicking off their first season under new music director Michael Krajewski with “Viva Philadelphia!” celebrating the sounds associated with the city.
“The theme of the show is a tribute to Philadelphia’s Italian musical heritage,” Bruce said. “They hired a Jewish singer to sing songs from a famous New Yorker, Tony Bennett. But we’re going to make it work because Tony Bennett is obviously very important to the Italian-American community. He’s an icon and I’ve been doing tributes to Tony Bennett in New York and L.A. and all around for a long time. So I’m going to be doing three songs from my Tony Bennett show. He is iconic. He’s over 70 years old and he’s still doing what he does. So we’ll pay tribute to him.”
Bruce performs in venues ranging from intimate to colossal, and said each has its own appeal.
“I like both,” he said. “For two-and-a-half years I’ve been at Sugar House Casino with a trio doing free jazz. We think on our feet and improvise. We can move very spontaneously through different key and tempos. That’s its own reward. But there is none of that with the POPS or any big orchestra. I like both but there’s nothing like hearing that wall of sound behind you. An orchestra or symphony behind a singer is heaven. So they both have their own rewards.”
And with the new leadership there could be more opportunities in the future for Bruce to share the stage with the POPS.
“This probably won’t be the last time on stage as long as I don’t bomb,” he said. “But I expect to do well. I have such good, local roots and fans. Hopefully they will come out and support me and the POPS.”
Eddie Bruce performs as part of “Viva Philadelphia!” with the Philly POPS Oct. 11-13 at Verizon Hall, 300 S. Broad St. For more information or tickets, call 215-893-1999 or visit www.phillypops.org.
