The Texas-born country star who has performed for every United States president since Jimmy Carter serenades Arrowtown next Thursday night.
Queenstown-based Underground Productions presents multi-award-winning recording artist and Broadway lead Gary Morris to the Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall.
Morris may be best known outside the United States for his original recording of Wind Beneath My Wings, which won both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music Song of the Year awards.
However, his 12 albums since the early 1980s ushered in 16 top 10 singles and five number one hits, including Baby Bye Bye, 100% Chance of Rain and Leave Me Lonely.
The Nashville and Southern Colorado-based artist played opposite Linda Ronstadt in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of Puccini's opera La Boheme.
He played the role of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables on Broadway to critical acclaim, including a Drama Desk Best Actor nomination.
Kiwi country stylings will open the Arrowtown show, with support performances by popular recording artists Andrea Cruickshank-Pearson, of Frankton, and Jeff Rea, of Tapanui.
Production manager Nicky Viggers, of Underground Productions, said yesterday the audience could expect from Morris "an evening of beautiful vocals at a calibre we rarely see in New Zealand.
"He's extraordinarily talented."
