Whitney Shay and Friends a Huge Sucess!
By Vince Meehan
San Diego singer extraordinaire Whitney Shay just produced a big show on Saturday April 19 at the beautiful Sunshine Brooks Theater in Oceanside. The event was sold out and Whitney hit a home run with her self-produced show. This seated show is part of a trend in San Diego where local artists and producers are bringing back show business to eager guests who have either never seen a true show, or only remember it from the past. These shows are not easy to put together, but there is no live entertainment event that comes close to a big show. And Whitney Shay has now thrown her top hat into the ring to create her own musical circus.
“It’s always kind of been a dream of mine to do like a old-fashioned variety show,” Whitney offered. “And I feel like I’ve been privileged to get to sing in a lot of other friends shows, so now I feel like its my turn to kind of spotlight them and bring a lot of different genres and different talents together and I’m really excited about that!”
The Whitney Shay and Friends show is a part of Kenneth Rexrode’s Six String Society entertainment consortium that is famous for putting on great shows in some of the county’s most beautiful venues. The Sunshine Brooks Theater is a vision from the past with its neon marquee and art deco motif. This venue lends itself perfectly to the big show format of Whitney and her all-star cast, and she couldn’t be happier.
“I wanted to make this exciting,” Whitney said. “And I think from original music to soul, to funk, to jazz, I mean, if you’re a live music fan, there is something in this show for everyone! So, I think it’s a really great opportunity to get to come to a seated, listening venue and get to hear just a great night of music. It’s going to be really exciting! And it’s kinda fun to be in an actual theatre setting for this show, it gives it like some special sparkle!”
Whitney is a five-time San Diego Music Award Winner and Billboard #1 Blues Artist who has played shows across the U.S. as well as Europe and South America. She also has a vast recorded music catalog and her tracks have been placed in TV/film, including shows on NBC, Fox, HBO, Bravo, BET, Hulu, and Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral.
The Whitney Shay and Friends show also featured guest vocalists Amanda Portela, Jason Hanna, Kori Gillis and Rhea Makiaris along with many other guests. “A new addition is to me – I met him a few years ago – my friend Kori Gillis is this fantastic singer and I told Ken about him immediately because he’s been doing his own shows with “Something Wonderful” a Stevie Wonder tribute, he’s absolutely fantastic and I loved getting to feature him. It’s the first time I’ve produced a show with other featured performers, so yeah, its very exciting to get to share that, get to share talented friends that maybe some of the six-string people don’t know about. 2025 is gonna be the year of big shows and I’m really excited to really to put some energy into it and produce them!”
The audience was very responsive and absolutely loved the Whitney Shay and Friends show. This puts Whitney firmly atop the music show business scene in San Diego, and a force to be reckoned with for many years here in San Diego. See you at the San Diego Music Awards!!
