Hugh Laurie Reveals His Skills as a New Orleans Blues Pianist/Vocalist Backed by The Copper Bottom Band at the Intimate Pantages, August 18

MINNEAPOLIS—Hugh Laurie is a talented, passionate and lifelong blues pianist/vocalist/aficionado, especially inspired by the New Orleans rich musical brew. Laurie unveils his substantial chops in the company of the Copper Bottom Band at Hennepin Theatre Trust’s intimate and acoustically stellar Pantages Theatre at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012. Tickets go on sale at 11 a.m. on Friday, June 8. To purchase and for more information, visit HennepinTheatreTrust.org or call 1.800.982.2787.

Laurie’s 2011 debut album, the New Orleans blues driven celebration “Let Them Talk,” was produced by Joe Henry and released by Warner Bros. Showcasing such legends as Irma Thomas, Allen Toussaint, Sir Tom Jones and Laurie’s lifelong hero Dr. John, the recording revives a much neglected body of work from Lead Belly, Robert Johnson, Ray Charles and Memphis Slim. “Let Them Talk – A Celebration of New Orleans Blues” also debuted on PBS’ Great Performances in September 2011. “I was not born in Alabama in the 1890s. You may as well know this now,” says Laurie. “I’ve never eaten grits, cropped a share, or ridden a boxcar. Let this record show that I am a white, middle-class Englishman, openly trespassing on the music and myth of the American south.”

Born in Oxford, Laurie began playing piano at age six and was bit hard by the blues bug after hearing a song by Willie Dixon on the radio. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge where he met actors Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry. Throughout the 1990s, he starred in such Hollywood films as “101 Dalmatians” and “The Man in the Iron Mask,” before landing his star-making role as Dr. House in 2004, which earned him several Golden Globe nominations and a nod for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama in 2006 and 2007. Laurie is also a best-selling author, releasing the spy spoof thriller “The Gun Seller” in 1998.