Jason Mraz’s Tour Is A Four Letter Word Tour will make a stop at The Wharf Amphitheater in Orange Beach on Aug. 17. Special guest Christina Perri will open. Doors open at 6:30 p.m, and showtime is 7:30 p.m. Tickets, priced at $61, $45.50 and $27, are available at ticketmaster.com or The Wharf Amphitheater Ticket Office. Mraz is touring in support of his new album, “Love Is A Four Letter Word,’’ and its hit single, “I Won’t Give Up.”
The new release is fueled by textured arrangements and distinctive vocal landscapes, confirming the San Diego-based singer/songwriter as one of modern pop’s most vibrant and inventive artists.
Mraz’s extraordinary musical journey has taken him from coffee houses to stadiums all over the world, with two Grammy Awards and six nominations already to his credit. His 2008 release, “We Sing, We Dance, We steal Things,’’ earned gold, platinum and multi-platinum certifications in 21 countries. The album’s lead single, “I’m Yours” was ASCAP’s 2010 Song of the Year and also holds the record for being the longest-running song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
A prolific songwriter, Mraz has been feted with a number of honors, including the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s esteemed Hal David Starlight Award, presented to gifted songwriters who are making a significant impact in the music industry via their original songs. His Jason Mraz Foundation is devoted to supporting a number of charities for which he has been a dedicated and impassioned advocate.
He has toured the world many times over, playing small hole-in-the-wall venues to jam packed concert arenas. Whether he’s playing to intimate crowds armed with nothing but his acoustic guitar, or leading a full band, his energy and showmanship are equally intense, captivating, witty, and humorous.
In 2010, Perri, a 23-year-old café waitress who’d been moonlighting as an unsigned songwriter, went from obscurity to the upper reaches of the Billboard charts in two short weeks. The Philadelphia native had moved to Los Angeles several years prior, hoping to spin her musical abilities into a record deal. Her brother, Nick Perri, found platinum-certified success as the guitarist of Shinedown, but Christina’s own efforts weren’t met with such luck. She married, divorced, and took up a job at the Melrose Café in Beverly Hills, with music taking a back-seat role as she struggled to pay the bills. While recording an EP, she contacted a choreographer from So You Think You Can Dance. Weeks later, one of Perri’s piano ballads, “Jar of Hearts,” was used in an episode, and public demand for the single convinced her to release the song independently. Over 100,000 people downloaded the song during its first two weeks, helping it crack the Billboard Top 40, and Perri inked a record contract with Atlantic before the summer was up. “Jar of Hearts” climbed to platinum status.