Michael W. Smith, Hotel California launch summer at Furth

Trine University’s T. Furth Center for Performing Arts will kick off this summer with legendary Christian artist Michael W. Smith and acclaimed Eagles tribute band Hotel California “A Salute to the Eagles.”

Smith will perform Friday, May 26, and Hotel California will be in concert Friday, June 30. Both events start at 8 p.m., with doors to the Ryan Concert Hall opening one hour prior.

Tickets for both go on sale beginning Friday, March 17, at trineutickets.universitytickets.com. Tickets for Michael W. Smith are $40-$65, while tickets for Hotel California are $25-$45.

Michael W. Smith

During his storied career, multi-platinum artist and bestselling author Michael W. Smith has written 36 No. 1 singles and sold more than 15 million albums while accumulating numerous accolades, including three Grammy Awards, 45 Dove Awards, an American Music Award and, most recently, induction into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

Born in Kenova, West Virginia, on Oct. 7, 1957, Smith wrote his first song when he was 5.

After moving to Nashville in 1978 to work as a songwriter and performing with several local bands, Smith later signed on as a staff writer with Meadowgreen Music, where he penned gospel hits for artists including Sandi Patty, Kathy Troccoli, Bill Gaither and Amy Grant.

Smith began touring as Grant’s keyboard player in 1982, and the next year he became her opening act after releasing his debut album.

The 1984 follow-up, Michael W. Smith 2, earned him a Grammy for Best Gospel Performance, after which he shifted gears musically and began developing a more rock-oriented sound to reach a younger, more secular audience.

The transition proved a successful one, as Smith has since released more than two dozen albums and landed numerous singles on both the adult contemporary and Christian charts. He won his second Grammy in 1995 for I’ll Lead You Home and another in 2002 for Worship Again. In between, he became the first Christian artist to be honored with the ASCAP Golden Note Award for lifetime achievement in songwriting in 1999.

Last February, Smith released A Million Lights and Surrounded, his first live worship recording since 2014, just a week apart. The two releases became his 30th and 31st Top Ten entries on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart, the most among solo artists in the span of his career, and they followed Smith’s successful “Surrounded By a Million Lights World Tour” in 2017.

More than just an outstanding songwriter and performer, Smith has given back to the global community throughout his career. In 1994, he launched Rocketown, a holistic, faith-based youth outreach facility in downtown Nashville aimed at providing a safe haven for young people in Tennessee to meet and find hope. Smith has also raised funds to battle the AIDS epidemic in Africa alongside longtime friend Bono, and he has helped more than 70,000 children through his work with Compassion International.

Hotel California

A spirited blend of originality and the pursuit of excellence have taken Hotel California “A Salute to the Eagles” to a level of recognition normally reserved for Gold and Platinum recording artists.

By respectfully and accurately reproducing the Grammy award-winning sounds of our generation's Greatest American Songbook, this legendary Southern California group has touched the hearts of fans all over the world.

The most successful and longest running show of its kind, Hotel California “A Salute to the Eagles” is the only show to have ever received official authorization to perform the Eagles catalog of music.

For more information about these and other events at the T. Furth Center for Performing Arts, visit trine.edu/furth.