Superstar Toby Keith will perform on the BOSTON POPS FIREWORKS SPECTACULAR, an entertainment special to be broadcast live from the Charles River Esplanade in Boston, Sunday, July 4 (10:00-11:00 PM, live ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network. Craig Ferguson (CBS’s “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson”) will host the special for the fourth consecutive year.
Toby Keith will perform some of his biggest hits with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra under the direction of conductor Keith Lockhart.
The BOSTON POPS FIREWORKS SPECTACULAR, now in its 37th year, is the orchestra’s annual free outdoor Fourth of July concert and is sponsored by Liberty Mutual Group, one of America’s leading insurers, offering auto, home and life insurance for individuals and families, as well as a variety of insurance products and services for businesses. New for 2010, the entire concert will be broadcast in HD (high definition), courtesy of Liberty Mutual Group. In addition, the final 20 minutes of the broadcast, featuring the spectacular fireworks display, will be presented commercial-free by Liberty Mutual Group.
Toby Keith has been among the top musical performers in any genre throughout this past decade, and is ranked among the top-selling artists in all genres at #3 on Billboard‘s Top 200 Artists of the Decade. He was also named Billboard‘s #1 Country Artist of the Decade and #1 Country Songwriter of the Decade and was honored by Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), which awarded him its prestigious Songwriter/Artist of the Decade Award. He is a three-time BMI Country Artist/Songwriter of the Year with his catalog generating more than 65 million performances. Keith’s business empire is as expansive as his hit making ability, encompassing restaurants, movies, and a clothing line.  In 2009, his 15th studio album, American Ride, debuted at the top of the Country Albums chart.  The title track and the second single from the album, “Cryin’ For Me (Wayman’s Song),” landed Keith two more consecutive #1 singles, the 27th and 28th chart toppers of his career.  His previous album, the critically-acclaimed That Don’t Make Me A Bad Guy, also boasts the back-to-back #1 hits “She Never Cried In Front Of Me” and “God Love Her.” In the past decade alone, his singles have spent more than a year at #1 on the charts. His tours continue to be among the top-drawing concerts in the world of entertainment.  In 2009, Keith’s U.S. “America’s Toughest Tour” played to more than a million people, marking the ninth consecutive year the hard-touring artist crossed the impressive million-ticket threshold. Overseas, Keith embarked on his first European tour in November, where he sold out a two-week run that included nine shows in six countries, and he performed in Norway at the 16th annual Nobel Peace Prize concert. On June 19, he kicks off his Ford Trucks-sponsored “American Ride Tour” that will take him across the United States throughout the summer.
Craig Ferguson joined the late-night television arena as host of CBS’s “The Late Late Show” in January 2005, following a career that encompassed film, television and the stage. The Scottish-born actor, writer, director and producer, who is also known for his role as Nigel Wick on “The Drew Carey Show,” brings a fresh approach to late-night television, which has quickly evolved into appointment television for America’s nightly insomniacs. Each weeknight, the Peabody award-winning show, lead by Emmy-nominated Ferguson, entertains audiences with an exceptional, unscripted monologue and goes one-on-one with guests from the worlds of film, television, sports and news.  Additionally, “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” continues to spotlight eclectic, edgy musical acts and rising stand-up comedians. “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” is broadcast weeknights (12:37-1:37 AM, ET/PT) following broadcasts of the “Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS (on the web: www.cbs.com/latenight/latelate). Ferguson was sworn in as a United States citizen in February 2008. In fall 2009, Ferguson released his memoir, American On Purpose, an achingly funny account of living the American dream as he journeyed from a small town in Scotland to the entertainment capital of the world. The book was listed on The New York Times bestseller list and released in paperback in April 2010.
Celebrating its 125th anniversary this spring, the Boston Pops has reached a landmark moment in a storied history that began with its founding in 1885. The Boston Pops Orchestra has distinguished itself as the founder of and leader in its genre, presenting the best of a wide variety of music from jazz to pop, indie rock to big band, film music to the great American songbook, and Broadway to classical. Though Arthur Fiedler’s nearly 50-year tenure as Pops conductor (1930-1979) established the Boston Pops as a national icon, Conductor Laureate John Williams (1980-1993) and present-day conductor Keith Lockhart (1995-present) have shepherded the
orchestra through three decades of tumultuous change in the world of music. The Boston Pops, “America’s Orchestra,” performs for an audience of nearly 900,000 people annually in Boston, across the country and around the world, and reaches millions more through its recordings and television broadcasts. For more information, visit http://www.bostonpops.org/.
Boston 4 Productions (http://www.july4th.org/) has produced this annual event for the past 37 years, for which approximately 800,000 people pack Boston’s Charles River Esplanade. In addition, more than seven million people across the country and the globe join the Boston Pops through the annual televised broadcast, sponsored by Liberty Mutual Group.
The BOSTON POPS FIREWORKS SPECTACULAR broadcast and live event will be produced by Boston 4 Productions and White Cherry Entertainment, in collaboration with IMG Media. Boston 4 Productions’ David G. Mugar is executive producer. Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner will produce the national telecast; Michael Mathis of IMG Media and Sheryl Bourisk for WBZ-TV will produce the local telecast seen on WBZ-TV Boston. Glenn Weiss will direct both the local and Network broadcasts.