Name: Paul McKnight
Start: 2024-11-15T20:30:00-05:00
Location: Blue Strawberry STL

The lovely and talented Carol Schmidt and I have created a nice collection of some of our favorite tunes with a love theme. We include our own arrangements of Ellington, Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Rodgers and Hammerstein, and a nice mix of Beatles, Fogelberg, Bacharach and Jimmy Webb. Our songs range from jazz standards to contemporary and, of course, Broadway.
First of all, I am a native St. Louisan. From an early age, I began singing and performing around the St. Louis area. I was a part of over 50 musicals in the 1970s and 1980s, including mostly leading roles at Kirkwood Theatre Guild, Hawthorne Players, Alpha Players, Glennon Players, Studio J and Encore. My roles included Harold Hill (Music Man), Billy Bigelow (Carousel) Curly (Oklahoma) Sky (Guys and Dolls) Sid (Pajama Game) Joe Hardy (Damn Yankees), and Albert (Bye Bye Birdie.)
My work career offered me the opportunity to advance, and unfortunately this meant leaving St. Louis in 1991. While living in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 25 years, I have never stopped performing. In San Francisco, I became a featured soloist for the Blackhawk Chorus and had the good fortune to sing across Europe as the featured soloist. Performing in Rome, Florence and Assisi, Italy; Vienna and Salzburg, Austria; Barcelona and Granada, Spain; London, Cardiff and Edinburgh UK; and Waterford and Cork, Ireland. In addition, I founded a 5-voice vocal jazz group and performed across the US and in Paris. I am a frequent performer at the “Jazz Room” in Danville, CA, often with my friend Eve Marie Shahoian.

Now, after 30 years of living elsewhere, I have returned to St. Louis.I am excited to rejoin the wonderful music community at home (St. Louis has always been home), and to make my St. Louis cabaret debut at Blue Strawberry.