Sheryl Crow to perform Dec. 14 in Cape Girardeau

Grammy-winning singer and songwriter and Kennett, Mo., native Sheryl Crow will return to Cape Girardeau for a concert Dec. 14.

The show, titled "Sheryl Crow Unplugged," will be at Academic Auditorium. It will benefit the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Southeast and the Kennett Area Higher Education Center.

Crow performed at the Show Me Center last December in a benefit for the same causes. That concert drew 2,996 people to the 7,000-seat Show Me Center and raised $48,000.

Academic Auditorium has a capacity of 1,200.

Crow also will present the commencement address at graduation exercises Dec. 15 at the Show Me Center and will receive an honorary doctorate.

Crow has a history of good works on behalf of the region where she grew up.

In 1997, her concert at the Kennett High School football stadium raised money for the Kennett Education Foundation.

A 1999 concert at the Kennett American Legion Hall netted more than $25,000 for the same foundation.

She has established a Sheryl Crow School of Visual and Performing Arts Scholarship endowment at Southeast and a similar endowment at the Kennett Area Higher Education Center.

Along with folk singer Nanci Griffith, she has raised money to support the work of the Campaign for a Landmine-Free World.

The daughter of Wendell and Bernice Crow of Kennett, Crow graduated from the University of Missouri at Columbia with majors in music composition, performance and education. She taught music in St. Louis schools before moving to Los Angeles at age 23 to pursue a career as a performer.

The 1993 release of "Tuesday Night Music Club," her first album, made Crow a star. She has followed with Grammies for Record of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance -- Female, Best Rock Vocal Performance -- Female, Best New Artist and Best Rock Album.

Patron tickets

A limited number of patron tickets entitling the holders to seating in the first few rows and a post-concert private reception are available for $200 -- of which $160 is tax deductible.

Patrons also will get reserved parking in Henderson Street Lot 35 north of Cheney Hall and transportation to and from Academic Auditorium.

Tickets are $27 for the general public, $20 for Southeast students and $15 for seniors graduating in December.

Tickets will go on sale at 8 a.m. Monday, Nov. 19. To order tickets or for ticket information, phone the Show Me Center Box Office at 651-5000 or go to www4.semo.edu/showmecenter.