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EARTH, WIND & FIRE TO RECEIVE ASCAP RHYTHM & SOUL HERITAGE AWARD
AT ASCAP RHYTHM & SOUL AWARDS GALA IN BEVERLY HILLS ON JUNE 17
Writers and Publishers of Top ASCAP R&B Songs of 2001 Also To Be Honored
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) will present the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Heritage Award to Earth, Wind & Fire, the seminal genre-crossing R&B/pop band, it was announced today by Marilyn Bergman, ASCAP President and Chairman of the Board. This prestigious award will be presented at the 15th Annual ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards Dinner, which will take place on Monday, June 17, 2002 in Los Angeles, California at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The invitation-only gala will also honor the songwriters and publishers of the top ASCAP songs on the 2001 R&B/Hip- Hop, Dance, Rap and Reggae charts.
Earth, Wind & Fire were in the vanguard of artists that took R&B and popular music in new directions. Drummer Maurice White, a veteran of the Ramsey Lewis Trio and countless recording sessions at Chess Records, created the group in 1969 with the idea of bridging R&B, jazz, gospel, funk, pop and traditional African music. EW&F has recorded numerous signature songs that have been successful on both the Pop and R&B charts, including "Shining Star," "September," "Fantasy," "Getaway," "Sing A Song," "That's the Way of the World," "Reasons" and "Serpentine Fire." The group has recorded over 20 albums and has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. EW&F honors include six Grammy Awards, four American Music Awards, an NAACP Hall of Fame Image Award and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Earth, Wind & Fire fan base extends far beyond the Pop and R&B audience; their music crosses genre, ethnic and geographic boundaries and is embraced internationally.
Commenting on the award, Marilyn Bergman said, "The music of Earth, Wind & Fire is memorable, joyous and endlessly inventive. Their songs evoke romance, spirituality and freedom. Maurice White, Philip Bailey, Verdine White and company have created a lasting body of work that transcends category." Previous recipients of the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Heritage Award have been Chaka Khan and Peabo Bryson. A previously unreleased collection of live recordings by Earth, Wind & Fire, That's The Way Of The World: Alive in '75, has just been released by Sony Legacy.
Established in 1914, ASCAP is the world's largest performing rights organization with over 135,000 composer, lyricist and music publisher members. ASCAP is committed to protecting the rights of its members by licensing and collecting royalties for the public performance of their copyrighted works, and then distributing these fees to the Society's members based on performances. ASCAP's repertory spans the entire spectrum of music - from pop to symphonic, rock to gospel, Latin to country, to jazz, rhythm and blues, theater, film and television music. ASCAP's Board of Directors is made up solely of writers and publishers elected by the membership.
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Contact: Rick Scott 310.398.0260
May 6, 2002
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Contact: Rick Scott 310.398.0260
June 28, 2000
e-mail: greatscottpr@pacificnet.net
IT’S A RED, WHITE & BLUE SUMMER FOR EARTH, WIND & FIRE
Band Takes a Break from Working on New Album to Play the White House and Tour Stateside
When the office of the president of the United States calls to extend an
invitation to perform at the White House, you go. And that is exactly
what Earth, Wind & Fire did June 20th. The recent Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame inductees interrupted the recording sessions for their new album
and abandoned production rehearsals for their summer concert dates to
fly to Washington, DC to play what has been described as the largest
state dinner ever held at the White House. The guest of honor was His
Majesty Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, who was feted by 435 invited
guests that included a number of political heavyweights and celebrities.
“While growing up, never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that one day we’d be playing the White House for the president and a king,” said an overwhelmed band co-leader Philip Bailey from the stage. Apparently the King is a huge fan and it was his personal request to President & Mrs. Clinton that the band perform. Earth, Wind & Fire’s creator, producer and co-leader Maurice White made the trip for the half-hour performance featuring some of the band’s biggest hits although he no longer performs with the group on stage. White revealed last March that he is afflicted with Parkinson’s disease. However, he still produces the troupe’s albums and is presently working on their twenty-third album, which Refugee Camp/Columbia Records expects to release during the first quarter next year.
A documentary film spanning the six-time Grammy winners’ thirty-year career is in production and is likely to be unspooled in conjunction with the release of the new album. Stephanie Bennett of Delilah Films is producing the retrospective, which will contain behind the scenes footage lensed during the making of the album that thus far bolsters collaborations with Eric Benet and Wyclef Jean. In the meantime, Earth, Wind & Fire take a guest turn on a soon-to-be-released single, “Runaway,” from Jean’s forthcoming album.
Still there is nothing like an Earth, Wind & Fire concert and there are numerous opportunities to see them this summer including at a couple of high-profile gigs. The icons of funk will appear opening night at the Essence Festival held at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans on July 1. To celebrate our nation’s birthday, EWF will light up the night in Philadelphia on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at a free show put on by the historic city expected to attract a half-million patriotic celebrants.
Earth, Wind & Fire’s complete summer concert itinerary follows (additions are possible):
July 1/Essence Festival at the Louisiana Superdome/New Orleans, LA
July 4/Sunoco Welcome America Fourth of July Celebration/Philadelphia,
PA
July 5/Foxwoods Resort/Mashantucket, CT
July 7/Oakdale Theatre/Wallingford, CT
July 9/Wolf Trap/Vienna, VA
July 15/Indiana State Fair/Indianapolis, IN
July 16/Summer Plaza Theatre/Merrillville, IN
July 27/San Diego Open Air Theatre/San Diego, CA
July 28/Gammage Auditorium/Tempe, AZ
August 1/Thousand Oaks Civic Center/Thousand Oaks, CA
August 2/Verizon Wireless Amphitheater/Irvine, CA
August 3/Shoreline Amphitheatre/Mountainview, CA
August 4 & 5/Caesar's Palace/Lake Tahoe, CA
August 8/Delta Center Arena/Salt Lake City, UT
August 9/Red Rocks/Denver, CO
August 11 & 12/Pier 62/Seattle, WA
August 13/River Queen Amphitheatre/Portland, OR
August 15/Concord Pavilion/Concord, CA
August 17-20/Mandalay Bay/Las Vegas, NV
EARTH, WIND & FIRE’S MAURICE WHITE REVEALED THAT HE HAS PARKINSON’S DISEASE
Earth, Wind & Fire’s creator, producer and co-leader Maurice White revealed in a telephone interview yesterday with the Associated Press that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease eight years ago. White disclosed the neurological condition days before his Grammy winning band is enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which takes place at an induction ceremony in New York City on March 6 that he will attend. White decided to disclose the ailment now because “I finally got over being in denial for so many years and now I want to set the record straight.”
Parkinson’s is a non-life-threatening, at presently incurable neurological disease the cause of which remains a mystery. The disease occurs when a small area of the brain fails to produce enough of a vital chemical creating one or more of the following symptoms: tremors on one side of the body, slow movement, stiffness of limbs and/or walking or balance problems. It is usually treated with medication that aids in maintaining normal control of the motor skills.
Rumors surrounding White’s health have been rampant ever since he retired from touring and performing with the band in 1995 to focus on developing and producing other artists, setting up a record label (Kalimba Records) and building a state-of-the-art recording facility. He never addressed the speculation then because he wouldn’t admit to even himself that he had a problem. Instead he hid and quietly toiled out of the public eye in the recording studio. “Parkinson’s doesn’t affect my work at all. There’s nothing that I could do before the diagnosis that I can’t do now. I still spend long hours in the (recording) studio and play tennis regularly,” stated the 58-year-old singer-songwriter-drummer who led the visionary R&B band to sales of over 25 million discs, six Grammy Awards, four American Music Awards and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
“I first noticed tremors in my hands back in the late 1980’s, but I kept performing with Earth, Wind & Fire for years even after I was finally diagnosed. The rigors of the road are tough on even a healthy body and I figured that after 35 years on the road, enough was enough. My doctors never told me to get off the road. It was always my decision to make.”
White, who is presently producing and writing new music for Earth, Wind & Fire’s 23rd album, due in record stores in late summer from Refugee Camp/Columbia Records, is exploring ways in which he can work with the National Parkinson Foundation to create awareness of and raise funds to battle the disease. More information on Parkinson’s disease can be found on the organization’s official Web site at www.Parkinson.org.