Erykah Badu and special guest performing in Portsmouth on Wednesday
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The Queen of neo-soul is coming to Portsmouth on Wednesday.
Erykah Badu, a four-time Grammy-Award winner, will perform at 8 p.m. at the Atlantic Union Bank Pavilion.
Badu has been in the business since 1997, producing five albums and additional EPs. She has inspired countless performers during the past two decades, including SZA, Ari Lennox and Summer Walker. In 2020, she was featured on Teyana Taylor’s single “Lowkey,” which sampled Badu’s 1997 hit “Next Lifetime” from her debut album, “Baduizm.”
Badu’s Portsmouth performance lists a special guest. A spokesperson for IMGoing, which manages the pavilion, couldn’t say who that might be, but Badu recently performed with Los Angeles guitarist, singer and songwriter Thundercat at Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre in Sterling Heights.
Badu isn’t just considered “queen” or “godmother of neo-soul” though. She’s also a certified doula and midwife, providing emotional and physical support to pregnant women who look up to her.
Last year, she helped with the birth of Taylor’s second daughter, Rue Rose, BET reported.
“Thank you both for allowing me to assist,” wrote Badu to Taylor and her husband, Iman Shumpert, calling herself “Badoula” in an Instagram post on Sept. 7, 2020.
Badu also served as doula for singer Summer Walker, who gave birth to her daughter Princess Bumblegum in March, BET reported.
In a November 2020 cover story in Rolling Stone, Walker and Badu, who is known for her eccentricities, talked about everything from Walker’s hopes to UFOs. Badu closed with a revelation and encouraging words.
“Did I tell you that I’m also a fairy godmother?” she asked Walker. “You shall have everything that is for you. Every single thing you just named, you shall have it all. It’s going to be written down. The universe will conspire with the wombniverse to make these things happen for you because you deserve them and you shall have them. All of them.”
Saleen Martin, 757-446-2027, saleen.martin@pilotonline.com
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If you go
When: 8 p.m. Sept. 29
Where: Atlantic Union Bank Pavilion, 16 Crawford Circle, Portsmouth
Tickets: Starting at $34.50, wwww.ticketmaster.com
Details: 757-393-8181, www.tinyurl.com/ErykahBaduPortsmouth or info@pavilionconcerts.com
