Jon Batiste: Why he is losing The Stephen Colbert program?
The presenter of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert revealed on the most recent episode that American musician Jon Batiste is finally leaving the program after seven seasons of service. According to a formal statement released by CBS, the 35-year-old actress will depart the program to “pursue both your personal and professional goals.
Colbert revealed that the multiple Grammy Award-winning performer will be leaving the talk show “for all the best reasons” on the August 11 program “to keep exposing the world to his craft. He continued,
“For the past seven years, we’ve been really fortunate to watch Jon’s remarkable talent up close. Will we miss having him here? ‘Yeaaa!’ But Jon, we’re delighted for you, and I can’t wait to welcome you back as a guest with your subsequent big single. I cherish you.
The band leader of the program, Jon Batiste, wasn’t present when Stephen Colbert announced the news on Thursday’s episode. The singer for FREEDOM has not performed with the group since May 2022, when he left The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to care for his wife Suleika Jaouad, who is battling leukemia.
Stephen Colbert revealed Jon Batiste’s replacement.
Louis Cato, who led the band while CRY singer Jon Batiste was on a hiatus, will take Jon Batiste’s place, the 58-year-old host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert said on Thursday’s episode:
Louis has worked extremely hard this summer, but he is very modest, so he won’t mention it. Though I will. He is a genius in music. He can play pretty much any instrument there. He can learn to play Mozart on a shoehorn in an afternoon.
The band will change its name from Stay Human, which it had under Batiste’s leadership, to The Late Show Band under Cato’s permanent leadership.
According to Variety, Cato will feature on the program starting with the eighth season, which will debut on September 6.
Since 2015, Louis has collaborated with Colbert and has previously shared venues with performers such as Mariah Carey, A Tribe Called Quest, Talib Kweli, Beyoncé, George Duke, John Legend, Marcus Miller, etc.
The musician is a Grammy-nominated multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and record label executive, according to Variety. Starting Now, his debut solo album, was released in 2016. Reflections, his most recent album, is now in post-production and is scheduled for release this year.
On the other hand, Jon Batiste won five Grammys in early 2022 out of a total of 11 nominations. The musician’s work on Disney Pixar’s animated movie Soul earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Score the previous year.
