New cover band features award-winning Lehigh Valley performers.

Former lead singers of award-winning Lehigh Valley cover band She Said Sunday, Christine Bainbridge and Ricky Bell make their debut performance with new group “Sunshine Symphony” this Friday, February 21st at The Barrister’s Club in Allentown.

Bainbridge was the recipient of the Lehigh Valley Music Awards Tonya Brown Award for Best Female Vocalist in 2009 and 2010, and nine other awards with former band She Said Sunday. Bell’s original song, Shallow, won him a WZZO Songwriting Contest in 2002, which Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull performed on stage with Bell at the State Theater in Easton. Bell then won the Lehigh Valley Acoustic Performers Contest in 2005, and went on to host the contest from 2007-2012.

“Together, we plan on bringing a vocally strong, harmonic yet musically diverse performance,“ Bainbridge explained. The two find common musical ground in their love of melody-driven pop, country and rock music like Bruno Mars, Bon Jovi, and Keith Urban – all featured on Sunshine Symphony’s set lists. “Anything goes musically with Sunshine Symphony. If it’s got good harmonies, it’s recognizable and danceable, it’s something we’ll play,” Bainbridge adds. “We’ve got an amazing rhythm section and our set lists include songs that really groove.”

Sunshine Symphony consists of Bainbridge and Bell, plus drummer Ian Frey, bassist Tim Kerrigan and guitarist Peter Johann. Frey, a graduate of Lehigh University with a B.S. in Music Composition, has been performing with Bell for almost a decade as part of an acoustic duo. Kerrigan is an accomplished bassist who has played in funk, bluegrass, rock, jam and blues bands in California and in Pennsylvania. Johann fronts his own cover/originals band, The Peter Johann Band, and has a background in jazz theory and bluegrass as well, and has been nominated for several Lehigh Valley Music Awards as well.

“With such a diverse blend of musicians, we’re really excited to see what type of musical ground Sunshine Symphony will cover,” Bell says. “When we came up with the name, it means ‘happy music’ to us. That’s really what we want to play.”

Sunshine Symphony’s debut performance takes place Friday, February 21st, 2014 at The Barrister’s Club, 1114 West Walnut Street in Allentown. The show is from 7-9 p.m. Tickets are $10 and are available for advance purchase by phone at 610-433-6204 x19 or at the door.