All night long
Stars come out to honor Lionel Richie at United Negro College Fund event
By Carl Kozlowski 09/10/2009
LIONEL RICHIE WROTE SOME OF THE MOST POPULAR SONGS OF THE ’70S AND ’80S, from “You Are the Sun” to “Hello,” and from “Say You Say Me” to “Dancing on the Ceiling.” This Saturday night, he will be the guest of honor for the “Evening of Stars” tribute at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.
The honor recognizes Richie’s career-spanning support of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and the evening will feature tribute versions of his songs performed by a star-studded array of musical talent, including Natalie Cole, Akon, Jesse McCartney, Katharine McPhee, Brian McKnight, Boney James and Chrisette Michele. While it was not confirmed at press time, Richie was expected to also take the stage and perform some of his own songs.
Richie is himself a graduate of Tuskegee Institute, a UNCF-supported school. His presence as headliner will make this the fund’s primary money-raising event of the year when it airs as a national TV special in January. UNCF’s Award of Excellence salutes his long Grammy- and Oscar-winning career as a singer-songwriter-producer as well as his history of supporting minority education. Previous recipients of the Award of Excellence have included Lou Rawls, Quincy Jones, Stevie 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 Wonder (2006) and Robinson (2008).Woven throughout the evening will be stories about those who have made UNCF’s educational mission their own, including a clip of President Obama addressing a joint session of Congress about the president’s commitment to regain world leadership in the number of Americans with college degrees.
There will also be a special appreciation of Michael Jackson that will recall the late superstar’s legacy of generosity by endowing a scholarship program through UNCF more than 20 years ago.
“An Evening of Stars” Tribute to Lionel Richie will take place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 E. Green St., Pasadena. Tickets are $100 and may be ordered by visiting ticketmaster.com.
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Mr. Kozlowski-
Wish I had seen that the great Lionel Richie was there last night!! I am in love with him!! I saw him many years ago in Jackson, MS, where we had the chance to meet him. I took some spinal cord patients from a rehab center to the concert. Lionel got addresses and sent each patient an autographed pic from his next venue, Baton Rouge, LA. A few yrs later, I wrote him in care of Motown, requesting assistance to purchase a used handicapped accessible van for one of the patients who is a quadriplegic with no transportation. About 3 mths later, I received a telephone call. Lionel Richie bought a brand new van for this special young man. I would love to write to him and would appreciate any address you may have. I don't want to ask for anything, only express appreciation to this day for his kindness. Hope you enjoy this awesome story about a wonderful man, Lionel Richie! Thank you - Joni Shaw