FORT LAUDERDALE — Five-time Grammy Award-winner Robert Cray brings the Robert Cray Band to Parker Playhouse with special guest Shemekia Copeland at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

Cray’s unique playing style and signature blend of rhythm and blues, pop, rock, and soul bridges traditional and contemporary blues. The Robert Cray Band has taken home Grammy Awards for Take Your Shoes Off as Best Contemporary Blues Album and Strong Persuader and Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark for Best Contemporary Blues Recordings, while Cray has also been honored with two Grammy Awards for collaborations with other artists.

Recognized for his masterful work as a guitarist and multi-talented singer, songwriter and producer, Cray’s musical resume reads like a who’s who in contemporary music. He has performed alongside Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton and B.B. King and other music icons including Tina Turner, Keith Richards, Chuck Berry, Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Willie Dixon.

Copeland, daughter of late Texas blues legend Johnny Clyde Copeland, is a two-time Grammy Award nominee for her wide-open vision of contemporary blues, roots and soul music in the rich tradition of soul-drenched divas like Ruth Brown, Etta James and Koko Taylor.

Both the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois, by official proclamation, have declared Copeland to be the new “Queen of the Blues.” She has earned eight Blues Music Awards and a host of Living Blues Awards including the prestigious 2010 Blues Artist of the Year. Copeland has opened for The Rolling Stones and played with Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, James Cotton and many others.

The Parker Playhouse, located in Holiday Park at 707 NE Eighth Street in Fort Lauderdale, is an affiliated venue of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $23 to $53, and are available online at BrowardCenter.org, ParkerPlayhouse.com or Ticketmaster.com; by phone at 954.462.0222 or TTD/TTY at 800.359.2525; in person at Ticketmaster outlets or the Broward Center’s box office.