The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture
presents
The Streamed Event

A CONVERSATION WITH HARRY CONNICK, JR.

Hosted by DAVID DiCERTO, SHEEN CENTER INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Available on Facebook and YouTube
https://www.sheencenter.org
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKGhpzp1y90&live=1

July 29, 2020 7 p.m.

It is wonderful to hear Harry Connick, Jr., sing, but it is outrageously wonderful to hear him speak one-on-one about his life and career. His face, his smile, his talent, are out-shown (if that’s possible) by his inner strength, faith, and the many charitable works he has done.

Born in New Orleans of a Catholic father and a Jewish mother, he grew up in a home full of old vinyl records. He loved that music. It was in his soul. Add his friendship with the Marsalis family (Wynton, Branford, and their father, Ellis) and you have an atomic explosion of musical talent and vitality. At age 18, basically penniless, he headed for New York City and got a job playing organ in a Catholic church. Hey, twenty bucks is twenty bucks.

The priest there, Father Richard Guastella, used to kindly take him out for a hamburger after Mass. They became life-long friends.

Three decades later, Connick has won Grammy and Emmy awards, acted on stage, in film, and in television, and has sold 28 million records worldwide. His success has not made him complacent. Far from it.

Connick credits New Orleans with making him into what he is. When Katrina struck in 2005, he burst into action. He helped to organize, and appeared in, the NBC live concert for Katrina relief. He, Branford Marsalis, and Habitat for Humanity joined forces to build the Musicians’ Village in the hard-hit Ninth Ward.

Sadly, Marsalis family patriarch, Ellis, died of COVID. So did his dear, Monsignor Guastella. In dealing with these losses, he asserts that “love wins every time”. He also has the beautiful philosophy that when you sing, you pray twice. He is more than a beautiful smile. He is a beautiful soul.

Listen to his COVID benefit song “Stars Still Shine” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85pj4XCQ3z0

-Karen D’Onofrio-