With hits like Sweet Freedom, Ya Mo Be There, and I Keep Forgetting, Michael McDonald's big vocals and timeless music have earned him legions of fans and five Grammy Awards.
The former vocalist for the Doobie Brothers will take the stage as part of a fundraiser for the Grace Fisher Foundation to bring art, music, and dance to the disability community.
"For someone like Grace to go out and do this for kids who are facing severe disabilities and giving them the chance to appreciate their own artistic abilities that they probably would have no other way of ever discovering is so important to me," explained McDonald.
Grace Fisher, who lives in Santa Barbara, was left paralyzed from the neck down in 2014 when she contracted a virus that spread to her spine. She was in her senior year of high school.
"I believe she was a gifted violinist," said McDonald. "And then was struck unfairly with this, you know, horrible...and while she was in the hospital, she decided to start this event and start this program to help people like her, which I just found so incredibly courageous and unselfish."
"We're in a time right now where we have an administration in this country that is seeking to defund any politically free information source, any artistic education that comes free through public television, public radio. What logic could there possibly be behind that?Michael McDonald
The Grace Fisher Foundation's winter showcase is now in its eighth year and continues to grow from strength to strength.
"Apparently, it's a wonderful event and has been something that she's been perfecting over the last few years, and with each year, is more successful and more incredible," said McDonald. "And a lot of the kids on the programs actually perform, and that's a big event for them."
The funds raised go to making the arts accessible to people of all abilities — something which is more important now than ever.
"We're in a very dangerous time in humanity where we could severely lose our way...so people like Grace Fisher are all the more important..."Michael McDonald
"We're in a time right now where we have an administration in this country that is seeking to defund any politically free information source, any artistic education that comes free through public television, public radio. Why would we be doing that? What logic could there possibly be behind that, when it's really in fact one of the things we should make sure we protect and keep in place for ourselves and for our future generations?" said McDonald.
"The arts is what make us human. It separates us from all the species on earth. Art is all at once a history lesson, a life lesson, and an appreciation for beauty and human endeavor in that realm," he said.
"For us to not fund it, for us to make decisions to separate ourselves from that, to not embrace that, any altruistic responsible government should really recognize the importance of this because it's not something that we should take lightly or think we can cut that because it's not important. You know, we have other important things like arms and shooting boats in the middle of the Pacific, full of people we don't even know who they are. That's more important somehow, you know?"
"We're in a very dangerous time in humanity where we could severely lose our way, and I think we're in the process of that. So people like Grace Fisher are all the more important to the rest of us," said McDonald.
Tickets for the Grace Fisher Winter Music Showcase on Sunday, December 14, at the Granada Theatre are available now.
