Wondering what our cool alumni are doing?
Honorary degree recipient Grace Potter ’14 and the Nocturnals recently threw a two-and-a-half hour long performance at Radio City Music Hall and the feedback has been out of this world.
Not only were there lights, fog, and confetti, but Potter did not stop moving from jumping to running to sliding across a stage that projected stars behind her; Potter delivered.
Potter was born in Vermont where her parents created a life as wood crafters. She then attended St. Lawrence for two years from 2004–2006, before dropping out to pursue her musical career.
In 2002 the band was formed when Matthew Burr (also a SLU grad and Potter’s husband of two years now!) approached her at The Java Barn, where she was performing some folk music. After that the band slowly formed to include: Scott Tournet, Michael Libramento, and Benny Yurco.
Since, the band has been producing more songs, and has been nominated for and received awards such as the Jammy Award for “Best New Groove,” in addition to receiving college degrees along the way.
In May of 2014 Potter was able to come back to St. Lawrence give a speech to her fellow graduating class.
Since then, Potter has been busy. Not only is she performing in Radio City Music Hall, but critics like Andrew Stern from Business Insider are taking note.
The article, titled “Move over, Adele–you’re no longer the best voice in music” explores Potters’ increasing fame.
He says: “Potter has that special sauce that great performers all seem to possess…the stage’s galactic backdrop suited the performance beautifully because Potter channeled a force beyond this world.”
In his review of Grace Potter’s recent solo album “Midnight”, Jon Caramanica of The New York Times describes her band as “a slick and ambitious Vermont roots-minded soul-rock band”
NOTE: There are really cool pictures on the Business Insider article about this radio city music hall event! The St. Lawrence University Facebook page shared it last week!