During the song it started with one audience member turning on the flashlight on their phone and showing it to the rest of the audience as if to invite them to do the same.

 

Flashlights began to come on and people waved them slowly back and forth to the beat of the song. The band felt the energy from the audience and Puro Vicente, one of the guitar players, used his cell phone to capture the moment. “It was cool when the audience held up their phones. We felt love and energy from them. It was a special moment for sure,” he said.

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The concert began with Clinton Hansen, president of the PlayForBurk Foundation, on stage giving recognition for those that helped make the concert a reality. He also described the purpose of the foundation to those in attendance. “This concert would not be possible without the help of countless hours given by so many volunteers,” said Hansen. “Randy John was instrumental in making this come together. The idea for a concert began with his daughter sharing a Youtube video of Alex singing a song about doing good to others and through many hours of hard work the idea grew into the concert Alex put on tonight. I can’t thank him enough for what he helped us accomplish,” he continued.

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During the concert Alex showed off dance moves like those recently seen when he performed on America’s Got Talent where he made it to the second round. He danced and moved on the stage like he was having the time of his life. “That was one of the best times I have had doing a concert,” Boye said. “The cause of the foundation is so special and the audience gave us a lot of energy during the show.” He sang some of his original songs such as “I Am Gold”, “Peponi”, and a crowd favorite “Lemonade”. He also sang well known songs by other artists such as “Shake it Off”, “Something Inside So Strong”, and “Happy”.

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The highlight of the show was when Alex invited a local choir from the Children’s Musical Theater (CMT) to perform on stage with him to sing the popular song “Let It Go”. The choir featured two different soloists Paige Cleveland and Katie McCollum. As they finished, the crowd gave them a standing ovation. “I try to give local youth a chance to perform with me. It is a special experience for them and I enjoy working with such talented people,” said Boye.

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A few songs before the end of the concert, Boye went back stage and put on a BYU basketball jersey signed by Jimmer Fredette, Burk’s favorite basketball player. “Alex asked us for something that represented Burk, something that if he wore would have significance to the audience,” said Hansen. “The first thing that came to our mind was the signed Jimmer jersey. Burk loved Jimmer. He is the reason Burk wore #32 in basketball.” The crowd erupted as Boye came out wearing the jersey. “That was an awesome moment,” remarked Kyle Ppool, one of Burk’s favorite teachers from middle school. “I saw him coming out in the jersey and it made me feel like Burk was there with us. What a cool thing for him to do.”

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The concert concluded with Boye singing an energetic rendition of the song “Happy”. Before he sang, he played what he called “row roulette.” He ran up the stairs behind the closed doors to enter the auditorium and after about 10 seconds appeared out of one of the doors. He invited the entire row to join him on stage along with the band and the CMT choir. They sang and danced and brought the audience to their feet to join in with dancing, clapping, and singing along. “What a perfect ending to the concert,” remarked Hansen.

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The concert raised over $7,000 for the foundation. This is the first of 3 fundraisers to be held this year for the start-up foundation. Hansen said, “This is a great start to the foundation. We plan to use this and all future money raised to fulfill our mission of partnering with local youth to promote service, faith, personal development and recreational opportunities for the betterment of themselves and their community.”

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Previous article in Examiner-Enterprise:

Aug 14, 2015 – The PlayForBurk Foundation will present world-renowned singer Alex Boye in concert at 7 p.m. Aug. 22. The concert will be held at the Bartlesville Community Center, 300 SE Adams Blvd. Bartlesville.

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Sponsorships, proceeds and ticket sales will go to benefit the PlayForBurk Foundation. The son of Clinton and Tamara Hansen of Bartlesville, Burk Hansen’s life, at age 13, was tragically taken in an ATV accident on April 4. Burk was a natural athlete, an active member in his Boy Scout troop, and a leader in his church youth group.

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He kept a journal and his final entry is the motivation of this foundation, “Focus on other people. SERVICE.” His family and friends have chosen to honor his life and legacy by giving back to the youth of the Bartlesville community.

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The mission statement of the PlayForBurk Foundation is to partner with local youth to promote service, faith, personal development, and recreational opportunities for the betterment of themselves and their community.

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The foundation’s goal is to honor Burk’s memory by providing scholarships to local youth and develop an annual week long summer leadership program employing the values of the foundation’s mission statement.

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Boye is British-born singer and actor of Nigerian descent. His career began in 1995 and he has been an international singing sensation ever since. After a successful career in Britain as the lead singer of the boy band Awesome, Boye left the band in 1999 to pursue a solo career.

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In 2000, he moved to the United States to pursue a career in Christian music. Boye is known for his energetic personality and taking popular pop music and giving it an “African twist.” In early 2014, he, along with the One Voice Children’s Choir, created an Africanized tribal version of the popular song “Let It Go” from the movie “Frozen.”

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The video immediately went viral, propelling Boye’s combined YouTube views to more than 100 million. It was selected as YouTube’s best pop cover of 2014. In January, Boye released an Africanized version of “Circle of Life,” with proceeds from the sale going to the Koins For Kenya mission.

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Most recently, he was featured in “America’s Got Talent,” where he received rave reviews by the audience and judges. After performing his own rendition of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off,” he received a standing ovation from the audience and judges.

For more about the PlayForBurk Foundation, including details on corporate sponsorships and donations, and how to become involved, visit www.playforburk.com.

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Tickets range from $10-$50 and are available through the BCC box office, by calling 918-336-2787 or 800-618-2787. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.bartlesvillecommunitycenter.com

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See more here.