Nashville, TN— What do you get when you mix George Michael’s best songs with some of Nashville’s best artists and musicians? Only a memorable spring night filled with performances, laughs, friends and of course wine, all for an incredible and life changing cause. Nights of Freedom: A Tribute to George Michael was held on May 2, 2017 at the City Winery in Nashville to pay tribute to the pop icon while raising awareness and finances for Unlikely Heroes.
Founded by Erica Greve in 2011, Unlikely Heroes is an organization that rescues and rehabilitates children who are all too often victims of sex slavery and human trafficking. Greve explained that these brave heroes go into the areas where the children are trapped, rescue them, and bring them into one of five restoration homes, where they then receive education, medical care, life skills, confidence, attention, and abundant love —“everything they need to live so they can live a fully transformed life of freedom” according to Greve. These rescues can be dangerous, both for the members of Unlikely Heroes as well as the victims. Girls and boys as young as 12 (and sometimes younger) are testifying against their traffickers. As if that’s not enough, they also deal with physical, mental, and emotional trauma. “But because young girls are strong enough and brave enough to raise their voices,” says Greve. Twenty-three traffickers have been prosecuted and over 200 children rescued. With 27 million people trapped in slavery all over the world, setting a historical record, Unlikely Heroes provides resources in the United States, as well as abroad in places like Mexico, Thailand, and the Philippines.
When asked what she was most looking forward too about the benefit in Unlikely Hero’s Honor, Greve expressed her excitement at seeing her friends and country music stars come out and work so hard to make a real difference in the lives of these youth. Friends like Shane Stevens, hit songwriter for artists including Lady Antebellum and Little Big Town. Stevens not only serves on the Unlikely Heroes Advisory Board but he put together the music to pay tribute to his hero, George Michael.
Shane explained that his 4th grade teacher introduced him to Michael and said, ‘“one day you should write songs and sing songs. You should be free to be who you are and have the power to love yourself.”’ Stevens, who opened the show with the tear-jerker ballad “One More Try”, was soon joined onstage by hosts and friends, CMT’s Cody Alan and Savannah Chrisley of Chrisley Knows Best. Chrisley had already learned from Greve how much this program gives back to these children when she co-hosted a previous Heroes gala in Dallas. Having miraculously just survived a horrific wreck herself, she had this advice to share: “no matter every hardship and adversity you go thru, you can always come out on top if you believe in Him.”
Country beauties Cassadee Pope and Sara Evans also joined Steven’s list of friends to perform some of George Michael’s most influential songs. Pope commanded the attention in the packed room with a lesser known Michael ballad “Like Jesus to a Child”, to which she says she almost forgot how emotional of a song it was. Evans joined Stevens onstage for the classic “Careless Whisper”, followed by a powerful solo performance of “Praying for Time”. The busy mom and singer recently launched Born to Fly Records and just announced a new album coming out July 21, which she calls “the album of my lifetime.” Featuring 14 female all star songwriters, none of which was planned, Evans, who appropriately titled the album Words, says “we have a lot of things to say in our songwriting. Every single song is superb.”
Every single song on the George Michael set list was also superb and had the audience on their feet, repeating every word and showing off dance moves. From the wildy popular anthem “Faith”, sung by rocker musician Justin Benlolo to Post Monroe’s spunky rendition of the Wham cult classic “Wake Me Up (Before You Go-Go)”, every song took us back to one of the most iconic times of music. Desmond Child’s take on “Fast Love” did not disappoint, nor did Brian Justin Crum’s haunting “Father Figure.” One of the most epic moments came during the Elton John/George Michael masterpiece, “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me”, lit up by the brilliant stylings of Shane Stevens and Justin Benlolo. And of course, you can’t end a George Michael tribute show unless you bring everybody to church with the 1990 smash “Freedom,” led by Stevens, Crum, Benlolo, and backed up by the energetic cast of talented musicians. James Slater, Kim Keyes, Anne Steele, Tabitha Fair, Jeff Slaughter, Tommy Hardin, Justin Ostrander, Tim Marks and Francia Raisa were among the artists and musicians that helped to create a “Night of Freedom” for Unlikely Heroes.
Watch the video below for interviews and performance highlights from this amazing night!
For more information, visit www.unlikelyheroes.com and follow them on Twitter and Instagram @uheroes.