Yonnet’s encounters with Stevie Wonder, Prince, Ed Sheeran and other icons
Frederic Yonnet says his first encounter with Stevie Wonder, was in a rather unusual fashion. Comedian Dave Chappelle was introducing him to Wonder during the 2006 Grammys when, suddenly, out of the blue, Yonnet pulled out a harmonica from his pocket and started playing some riffs, and the next thing… he and Wonder were on tour.
“I met Stevie Wonder at the Grammys. It’s a pretty funny story and Chappelle tells it best. You have to watch it on Youtube video (www.youtube.com/watch?v=erndivj4n0w),” Yonnet recalled.
And it was their common love for the harmonica that led to a fruitful partnership. “Wonder has always been an inspiration to me, and our shared passion for the harmonica, made us fast friends. He’d invite me to jam with him at shows for these high-energy harmonica duels.
“When he decided to do a tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of his Songs in the Keys of Life album, he asked me to be a part of it. His songs Have a Talk with God and Mama’s Call feature him singing or playing multiple harmonica parts. On the album, he sang and played all the parts. But on the tour, I played while he sang, and we played the multiple parts together. Every show was as exciting as the first one,” he said.
And it was the gigs with Wonder that led him to play with the late Prince. “Prince saw me perform with Stevie Wonder at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Several months later, I was at one of Prince’s house parties, he remembered my performance and invited me to jam with him and his band in the basement. That eventually led to me doing performances and tour dates with him and The New Power Generation (Prince’s band).”
A chance jam with Ed Sheeran ended up with a TV special for Yonnet. “Dave Chappelle and I produce a pop-up event called: Dave Chappelle’s Juke Joint featuring Frederic Yonnet and the Band with No Name,” Yonnet said.
“We did a party in London and Ed stopped by to jam. We had such a good time Ed invited me to perform with him on a show in Washington, DC. We performed his hit song, Thinking Out Loud and it ended up being filmed as part of a Christmas TV special. We’ve stayed in touch and have since jammed together at pop-ups in DC and Johannesburg, SA,” he added. He also got the chance to meet the legendary Toots Thielemans. “I had the pleasure of meeting Thielemans at Blues Alley in Washington DC. We also chatted on the phone once about recording together, but somehow I never performed with him.”
Yonnet holds fond memories of performing at Quincy Jones’s 85th birthday party last year. “Quincy’s birthday celebration, which aired on BET, was an amazing, star-studded evening of music and tributes to ‘The Dude’. You name it, they were there... Oprah, Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Dave Chappelle, Gladys Knight, Usher, Gloria Estefan and many others.
“I had the chance to perform two songs, including one with an all-star band led by Herbie Hancock and directed by (keyboardist and musical director) Greg Phillinganes.”