Notable attendees included Sugar Ray Leonard, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Ray Parker Jr., Chanté Moore, David E. Talbert, Inas X, Amina Buddafly Pankey, Tanya Nolan, Elijah Blake, Dixson, Chaz Shepherd, Jamal Morton, Jasmine Sanders, Stephen G. Hill, Sylvia Rhone, Jerome Benton, and more. The gala took place at the Taglyan Cultural Complex in Hollywood, California.
Esteemed radio personality Skip Cheatham of MAJIC 94.5 in Dallas, Texas, presided as host, while DJ Battlecat provided entertainment. Tracey J. Jordan and Lionel Ridenour, former Living Legends honorees, assumed the roles of this year’s dinner chairpersons. To preview and post red carpet highlights click HERE.
“The room was filled with legends from celebrities to executives,” says David C. Linton, chairman of the Living Legends Foundation. “On behalf of our board of directors, it’s an honor to bring together the music and entertainment industries for an important cause benefiting the executives that have poured so much into the industry and more importantly the culture. Congratulations to this year’s honorees. Thank you for making us proud.”
Donnie Simpson, legendary radio and television broadcaster was the recipient of the Jerry Boulding’s Radio Award. The award was presented by Skip Dillard, LLF board member and brand manager/format vice president of WXBK-FM Audacy New York, and Stephen Hill, executive vice president of Creative at MRC Live & Alternative. Beaming with joy during his acceptance speech, Simpson acknowledged a host of people including his family, guests, and friends. He also shared how he got his start in radio.
“Al Perkins [radio personality and producer who worked at WCHB] who hired me at 15 years old and turned the keys of a radio station over to a 15-year-old kid in Detroit, then the fifth largest market at the time, is phenomenal,” said Simpson. “Also, [the late] Ken Bell [who was a top radio personality at WJLB], used to sneak me into the [radio] station at night and let me work out on the equipment and then he would critique my tape the next day, and that meant the world to me.”
To view Donnie Simpson’s career video presentation, click HERE. For his acceptance speech, click HERE.
Harvey Mason jr., the CEO of The Recording Academy® and MusiCares® was presented with the Living Legends Foundation A.D. Washington’s Chairman Award, by David C. Linton, the organization’s chairman, who commended Mason for his leadership and the overall growth and success of The Recording Academy.
In his acceptance speech, Mason said he hopes to continue providing opportunities and being an example for others [referring to his work with The Recording Academy]. “I’ve done a lot of cool things [in my career], but I don’t think I’ve done anything better than to be helpful and to be in service of others.
”Mason concludes, “I’m proud of the work that we are doing at The Recording Academy because you all see the trophies, you see the celebration, you see the nominations, but what you don’t see is the work that goes on with the organization. The [award] show gives us the money, which then comes back into our community. The one thing I recognized when I took on this role is that there’s more work that needs to be done around the Black Music community. So, a lot of effort has gone into using the resources, platform, and the ability of the [Recording] Academy to continue to help all genres of music, but specifically some of the underserved communities.”
To view Harvey Mason’s career video presentation, click HERE. For his acceptance speech, click HERE.
Ed Eckstine, filmmaker and television producer, and former label president and music executive was the recipient of the Ray Harris Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by Ray Harris, LLF Chairman Emeritus, and Vanessa Williams, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony-nominated actor and recording artist. Williams sent a video message from London. She is currently starring in the musical The Devil Wears Prada on London’s West End. Eckstine was one of the key music executives responsible for breaking her recording career.
In his acceptance speech, Eckstine not only talked about his extraordinary life as the son of jazz giant Billy Eckstine and his family but also his life’s work under the guidance and teachings of two industry titans, Quincy Jones, and Clive Davis. In 1990, he was the first African American to be appointed president of a major non-Black-owned record company, an industry first.
“I do not have the words to describe the charmed life properly or adequately I led under the guidance and tutelage of “Q” [Quincy Jones],” said Eckstine. “He taught me so much about life, music, production, the chess game called the music business, global hustle, what and what not to do and say. I was blessed to serve as his general manager at Quincy Jones Productions from inception to what became the most commercially successful and creatively fertile period of his recording career and believe me when I say had I not graduated with honors from Quincy Jones University, I would not be standing before you today.”
Eckstine concludes: “My twenty months doing A&R and living in New York City working for Clive Davis exposed me on a corporate level, to activities and events I had not previously been privy to. Clive was a very precise and disciplined taskmaster whom I learned a great deal from and am grateful for the brief tenure that I had under his leadership. After having attempted to grow and expand beneath the shadow of two very tall trees in “Q” and Clive, my life was forever changed.”
To view Ed Eckstine’s career video presentation, click HERE. For his acceptance speech, click HERE.