Jill Scott has postponed the final four stops of her North American tour, including two shows at Sugar Land’s Smart Financial Centre and two in the Dallas area, after testing positive for COVID-19. The 53-year-old Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, actress and poet was expected to perform Sunday and Monday at the Sugar Land venue before the diagnosis forced a last-minute change of plans.
Scott said what doctors initially believed was a minor virus turned out to be COVID-19, according to the Houston Chronicle. She said she felt okay but could not go out without a mask, and that she had to reschedule her last four shows on the U.S. tour for everyone’s safety and wellness. The Sugar Land dates have been moved to September 11 and 12, while the Dallas-area shows, originally set for the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, have been pushed to September 14 and 15.
A Homecoming Tour Built Around a Long-Awaited Album
The postponed shows are part of Scott’s To Whom This May Concern World Tour, which she launched behind her sixth studio album of the same name, released Feb. 13. It marked her first new studio project in 11 years and reached top-ten positions across seven Billboard charts, according to Daily News Now. In an interview cited by NPR, Scott described the album as a personal revolution aimed at encouraging listeners toward self-actualization.
The tour itself is a sprawling undertaking. Announced in March, the trek spans 36 dates across North America, Europe, the United Kingdom and South Africa, with the run scheduled to wrap up in Cape Town in November, according to Rated R&B. The North American leg had been due to close out in Texas before Scott’s band headed overseas. Demand for the Sugar Land stop was strong enough that Scott announced an additional show in March after the first night sold out.
Three Decades of Grammy-Winning Work
Scott’s career stretches back to a chance discovery at a Philadelphia poetry reading, where Questlove of The Roots first heard her perform, according to the Philadelphia Music Alliance. Her 2000 debut album, Who Is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds Vol. 1, went double-platinum and earned her a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. She has since won three Grammys among 14 nominations, including Best Urban/Alternative Performance in 2005 for “Cross My Mind” and Best Traditional R&B Performance in 2007 for “God Bless The Child,” per the Recording Academy’s own Grammy.com. Across her career she has won eight awards total, including multiple Grammys and NAACP Image Awards…