News and Media
UNCF News and Media
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
CONTACTS:
Joye Griffin
703-205-3480
joye.griffin@uncf.org
NATALIE COLE, AKON, JESSE MCCARTNEY, KATHERINE MCPHEE, BRIAN MCKNIGHT, BONEY JAMES AND CHRISETTE MICHELE COME OUT FOR UNCF TRIBUTE TO LIONEL RICHIE
Los Angeles, CA (September 2, 2009) - The 31st edition of An Evening of Stars®, UNCF's annual televised celebration of excellence in entertainment and education, will take the stage before a live audience at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on September 12 with an all-star tribute to Lionel Richie, a graduate of UNCF member school Tuskegee University. The two-hour program will air in January, 2010 on BET, WGN and over 40 television stations in major markets throughout the country.
A sparkling array of stars -- including nine-time Grammy Award winner Natalie Cole, hip hop hook master Akon, American Idol runner-up Katherine McPhee, Jesse McCartney and multi-platinum recording artist Brian McKnight -- will salute Richie by performing songs he's written and made famous.
Also slated to perform on An Evening of Stars are James Ingram, Boney James, Anika Noni Rose, Mary Mary's Erica Campbell, Johnny Gill and Grammy-Award winning R&B singer Chrisette Michele. A superstar cast of presenters include Cedric the Entertainer, Terrence Howard, Kim Delaney, Tom Joyner, Regina King, Shemar Moore, Romeo, Bobb'e Thompson, Tracie Thoms and Blair Underwood.
"The stars who will be at the Pasadena Civic Center to honor Lionel Richie are doing more than paying tribute to a great artist and entertainer, they are standing with UNCF for the proposition that all children, all Americans deserve an education," said Michael L. Lomax, Ph.D., president and CEO of UNCF. "These artists are making certain that the millions of Americans who tune into AEOS understand how important it is to help UNCF meet President Barack Obama's goal for our nation to regain world leadership in the percentage of citizens with college degrees."
Woven throughout An Evening of Stars® will be stories about those who have made UNCF's educational mission their own. A clip of President Obama addressing a Joint Session of Congress will remind viewers of the President's commitment to regain world leadership in the number of Americans with college degrees. A special appreciation of Michael Jackson will recall the King of Pop's legacy of generosity and foresight by endowing a scholarship program through UNCF more than 20 years ago. A segment featuring actor and comedian Cedric the Entertainer highlights young people attending college on scholarships from the program that Cedric established at UNCF. Another segment will tell the story of how a UNCF scholarship program funded by the foundation started by the legendary Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, has achieved college graduation rates that are 40% higher than the national average.
Richie will be on hand to accept UNCF's Award of Excellence for his long and distinguished career as a singer-songwriter-producer and for his history of supporting minority education. He joins prior honorees Lou Rawls, Quincy Jones, Steve Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson and Patti LaBelle. An Evening of Stars® attracted a national audience of 3.3 million last year. The program has won NAACP Image Awards for its tributes to Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson.
This year's show is made possible by Target, the Presenting Sponsor of AEOS®, and by national corporate sponsors McDonald's and AT&T. Official sponsors of An Evening of Stars® are American Airlines, Wachovia, a Wells Fargo Company, Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc., BET Networks, and WGN. Tickets can be purchased at ticketmaster.com.
Returning for his 13th year as executive producer and director of UNCF's "An Evening of Stars®" is six-time Emmy Award winner Louis J. Horvitz. One of the industry's most accomplished and sought-after live television producer/ directors, Horvitz has directed the annual Academy Awards® telecast for 13 years. He has also helmed the Prime Time Emmy Awards®, and directed The Kennedy Center Honors® and the American Film Institute (AFI) Life Achievement Award. In January of 2009 Horvitz directed The Kids Inaugural We Are the Future for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michele Obama. In 2010, Horvitz is slated to direct the 52nd Grammy Awards.
For more information on AEOS, visit www.uncf.org.
About An Evening of Stars®
An Evening of Stars® (AEOS), formerly the Lou Rawls Parade of Stars®, first aired in 1979, and since that time has become one of the longest running and most successful televised events in U.S. history. Lou Rawls, a spokesperson for UNCF and champion for AEOS for more than 25 years, is credited with helping raise more than $200 million to help UNCF scholarship recipients and member institutions and their students pay the cost of higher education. In recent years, AEOS has featured a Who's Who of recognizable talent, including Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Chaka Khan, Ne-Yo, Nancy Wilson, Beyonce, Anita Baker, Jill Scott, Whoopi Goldberg, Fantasia, Joss Stone, Jennifer Hudson, Michael Bolton, Natalie Cole, Herbie Hancock, Al Jarreau, Hall and Oates, Ziggy Marley, Maroon 5, and scores of others. An Evening of Stars® received an Image Award for its 2006 tribute to Stevie Wonder and the 2008 tribute to Smokey Robinson. Learn more about AEOS at www.uncf.org/aeos.
About UNCF
UNCF--the United Negro College Fund--is the nation's largest and most effective minority education organization. To serve youth, the community and the nation, UNCF supports students' education and development through scholarships and other programs, strengthens its 39 member colleges and universities, and advocates for the importance of minority education. UNCF institutions and other historically black colleges and universities are highly effective, awarding 18 percent of African American baccalaureate degrees. UNCF administers more than 400 programs, including scholarship, internship and fellowship, mentoring, summer enrichment, and curriculum and faculty development programs. Today, UNCF supports more than 60,000 students at over 900 colleges and universities across the country. Its logo features the UNCF torch of leadership in education and its widely recognized motto, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste."® Learn more at www.UNCF.org
