Fantastic Negrito and Sting Join Forces On ‘Undefeated Eyes’

Fantastic Negrito and Sting Join Forces On ‘Undefeated Eyes’

Multiple Grammy Award Winners Fantastic Negrito and Sting Unite On Soulful Single

3x GRAMMY® Award-winner Fantastic Negrito has united with 17x GRAMMY Award-winning® legend Sting for the deeply soulful new single, “Undefeated Eyes,” available now via his own Storefront Records.

Fantastic Negrito’s first release since last year’s acclaimed Grandfather Courage, “Undefeated Eyes” was recorded in 2020, just days before COVID lockdown policies went into effect. The two iconic artists spent the day together in Fantastic Negrito’s West Oakland studio, their distinctive voices perfectly complementing each other as they tell an elegantly gritty yet full-of-life tale of misplaced trust and the sometimes low points of relationships.

“Undefeated Eyes”

 
Stream the new single HERE

Born Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz, the story of Fantastic Negrito is a testament to the transformative power of music and the importance of resilience. By now much has been made of Negrito’s unique story – his early years growing up in an orthodox Muslim household, the doomed major label deal that turned him off of the music industry altogether, the near-fatal car crash that permanently damaged his guitar-playing hand—as well as the remarkable redemption arc that began in 2015, when he won the first-ever NPR Tiny Desk Contest.

In the years that followed, Negrito would go on to take home three consecutive GRAMMY® Awards for “Best Contemporary Blues Album,” share stages with everyone from Sturgill Simpson to Chris Cornell to Bruce Springsteen, collaborate in the studio with the likes of Sting, E-40, and Tank and the Bangas, perform on countless worldwide headline tours and at such festivals as Lollapalooza, Glastonbury, Newport Folk, and Bryon Bay Blues, and found the Revolution Plantation, an urban farm aimed at youth education and empowerment. Fantastic Negrito’s fifth studio album, 2022’s White Jesus Black Problems, marked the acclaimed first release on his own Storefront Records label. 2023 saw the release of Grandfather Courage, an acoustic reimagining of White Jesus Black Problems recorded with his touring band and hailed by PopMatters as “a compelling, affecting work of acoustic blues and roots music, speaking to the deep currents of blues as an American art form.”

Fantastic Negrito has confirmed a truly epic international tour schedule, including a shared stage with Sting at Nieuwpoort, Belgium’s upcoming Beach Festival on Friday, July 19. For complete details, please visit www.fantasticnegrito.com/tour.

Fantastic Negrito website

FANTASTIC NEGRITO – WORLD TOUR 2024

JULY
4 – Cazorla, Spain – Blues Cazorla
6 – Monforte D’Alba, Italy – Auditorium Horszowski
7 – Chiusi Scalo, Italy – Lars Rock
8 – Benvignante, Italy – Delizia Estense Di Benvignante
11 – Udine, Italy – Castello Di Udine
12 – Sarroch, Italy – Sa_Rock Festival
14 – Vienna, Austria – Flucc Wanne
16 – Warsaw, Poland – Progresja
19 – Nieuwpoort, Belgium – Beach Festival
20 – Lugano, Switzerland – Blues To Bop Festival
21 – Zurich, Switzerland – Kaufleuten
23 – Lille, France – Le Splendid
26 – Cambridge, United Kingdom – Cambridge Folk Festival
28 – Calgary, AB – Calgary Folk Music Festival

AUGUST
8 – Edmonton, AB – Edmonton Folk Music Festival
13 – Vancouver, BC – Biltmore Cabaret
15 – Victoria, BC – Capital Ballroom
16-18 – Grande Prairie, AB – Bear Creek Folk Fest
20 – Memphis, TN – Grind City Brewing Co.
21 – Austin, TX – Austin City Limits Live At The Moody Theater
23 – Dillon, C) – Dillon Amphitheater
24 – Colorado Springs, CO – Sunset Amphitheater
26 – Santa Fe, NM – Santa Fe Plaza
29 – San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger
30 – Houston, TX – The Heights Theater
31 – Dallas, TX – The Black Academy Of Arts And Letters

SEPTEMBER
7 – Novato, CA – Hopmonk Tavern
12 – Venice, CA – The Venice West

OCTOBER
29 – London, United Kingdom – Islington Assembly Hall
31 – Manchester, United Kingdom – The Blues Kitchen Manchester

NOVEMBER
3 – Oberhausen, Germany – Hotelik Gdanska
5 – Berlin, Germany – Quasimodo
6 – Hamburg, Germany – Nochtspeicher
10 – Oslo, Norway – Parkteatret Scene
13 Utrecht, Netherlands – TivoliVredenburg
15 – Paris, France – La Cigale
18 – Villeurbanne, France – Transbordeur