On Thursday, September 27, 2007, the life and career of music impresario Quincy Jones will be honored during The HistoryMakers' An Evening With Quincy Jones at Jack Morton Auditorium at George Washington University. During the one-on-one interview, PBS journalist Gwen Ifill will guide Jones through a discussion of his life and career. The program will feature live performances by vocalists Lesley Gore ("It's My Party"), Bebe Winans ("Feel Like Heaven With You"), and James Ingram ("Everything Must Change"). Noted musical producer Dallas Austin and ten-time Grammy Award winner Herbie Hancock will serve as musical director and master of ceremonies.
The Honorary Co-Chairs of An Evening With Quincy Jones include Patti Austin, Clarence Avant, the Honorable William Coleman, Jermaine Dupri, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, the Honorable Adrian M. Fenty, the Honorable Harold Ford, Barbara Harrison, the Honorable Alphonso Jackson, Vernon Jordan, Anthony A. Lewis, Colin Powell, Chris Tucker, the Honorable Anthony Williams, and Bebe Winans, among others. The Benefit Chair is Joseph E. Roberts, Jr., Founder and CEO of J.E. Robert Companies. The Event Co-Chair is Patricia Harris, Global Chief Diversity Officer of McDonald's Corporation. McDonald's is the title sponsor; other sponsors include XM Satellite Radio, J.E. Robert Companies, the Coca-Cola Company, FedEx Corporation, Verizon Wireless, Urban Trust Bank, Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation, the Washington Post, American Airlines, and others.
Over a span of six decades, Jones has encompassed the roles of composer, producer, arranger, conductor, instrumentalist, executive, magazine founder, and multi-media entrepreneur. He has won twenty-seven Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, N.A.R.A.S.' prestigious Trustees' Award, and The Grammy Living Legend Award. He is also the recipient of the French Ministry of Culture's Distinguished Arts and Letters Award, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music's Polar Music Prize, and the Republic of Italy's Rudolph Valentino Award. Jones has been honored by the United States and the Republic of France as a Kennedy Center Honoree and Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur. In 2001, "Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones" entered the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Wall Street Journal's Best-Seller lists. Jones is currently collaborating with composer Leslie Bricusse on the book and lyrics for a Broadway play based on the life of Sammy Davis, Jr.
Interviewer Gwen Ifill is the managing editor of "Washington Week" and senior correspondent for "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer." She has been honored by the National Press Foundation, Ebony Magazine, the Radio Television News Directors Association, and American Women in Radio and Television.
An Evening With... is the hallmark celebrity interview program and fundraising event of The HistoryMakers. Previous celebrity honorees include Harry Belafonte, Dionne Warwick, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, BB King, Della Reese, Russell Simmons, Diahann Carroll, Denyce Graves, Nikki Giovanni, Andrew Young, Colin Powell, and Earl Graves.
The HistoryMakers is a national 501(c)(3) non-profit educational institution founded in 1999, committed to preserving, developing, and providing easy access to an internationally recognized archival collection of thousands of African American video oral histories. Designed to promote and celebrate the successes and to document movements, events and organizations that are important to the African American community and to American Society. The HistoryMakers is sharing its interactive website (www.thehistorymakers.com). Plans are underway for the establishment of a unique digital archive that will provide easy access to more than 30,000 hours of content in a format that is searchable by image and text. The purpose of this archive is to educate and to show the breadth and depth of this important American history as told in the first person; to highlight the accomplishments of individual African Americans across a variety of disciplines; to showcase those who have played a role in African American-led movements and/or organizations; and to preserve these video oral histories for years and generations to come, creating a priceless collection and helping to refashion a more inclusive record of American history.
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