Embers heating up Friday night downtown

Published 9:28 pm Tuesday, April 2, 2019

The Embers will bring their crowd-pleasing “beach music” downtown for a live performance in the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts on Friday night. The show will begin at 8 p.m. at the center, 110 W. Finney Ave.

Lead singer and front man Craig Woolard — who has appeared on stage with groups like The Four Tops, The Temptations and the Beach Boys — will be playing the saxophone. He’s co-hosted the Carolina Beach Music Awards for the past decade and was inducted into the Carolina Beach Music Awards Hall of Fame in 2011, according to the press release.

His bandmates will be on keyboards, electric and bass guitars, drums, trumpet, trombone and percussion as they all bring “feel good music” to the people of Suffolk.

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“If you come in feeling down, when you leave, you’re going to feel up. We promise that,” said the group’s owner, Bobby Tomlinson.

The Embers have been making their mark since 1958 with beach music that they consider to be “music with a memory,” according to the press release, and delivered in a combination of rhythm, blues, heart and soul.

They were inducted into the South Carolina Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame and recently into the South Carolina Beach Music Hall of Fame. They also carry the moniker of North Carolina’s Official Ambassadors of Music.

“Folks are so energized by The Embers music that the Suffolk Center has installed a small dance floor in front of the stage for anyone who wants to shake a leg,” SCCA Executive Director Susan Lawrence stated in the press release.

Reserved tickets are $25, $30 and $35 dollars. Order tickets online at suffolkcenter.org, by calling 923-0003 or in person at the Suffolk Center Box Office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.