The United Negro College Fund to Honor Aretha Franklin at 28th Annual An Evening of Stars(R)

The United Negro College Fund to Honor Aretha Franklin at 28th Annual An Evening of Stars(R)

FAIRFAX, Va., July 28 /PRNewswire/ -- The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) announced today that Aretha Franklin, the undisputed "Queen of Soul," will receive the UNCF's prestigious Award of Excellence on its annual television special, An Evening of Stars(R). Ms. Franklin will be the first female artist to receive the award. Previous honorees have been Lou Rawls (2004), Quincy Jones (2005) and Stevie Wonder (2006). The three-hour concert tribute will be taped at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, Calif. on Sept. 8 and 9, 2006, and will air nationwide in late January 2007.

Franklin will receive the honor for her longstanding and generous support of the UNCF's mission to provide deserving students with access to higher education, as well as for her well-known activism and philanthropy on behalf of numerous other causes.

A music industry legend, Franklin has graced the stage of An Evening of Stars(R) numerous times during its 28-year history, delivering powerful performances of songs we all know and love. She has also contributed her fame, talent and money to numerous other causes and organizations including the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the NAACP, sickle cell anemia research and drunk driving awareness and prevention.

"UNCF is delighted to show Aretha Franklin some of the R-E-S-P-E-C-T that she has shown us for so many years," said Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO of UNCF. "She has honored us so often with her appearances on An Evening of Stars(R) and her support of our mission of education. Now it is our turn to honor her by giving her our Award of Excellence. As an artist, an entertainer, and a citizen, her career has established a standard of excellence that exemplifies the educational distinction to which our member colleges are dedicated and to which they hold their students."

As one of the most revered artists in the music industry, Franklin has earned 17 Grammy awards, 17 No. 1 R&B singles, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, a Kennedy Center Honor, a National Medal of Arts, and was the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Her long list of hits includes "Chain of Fools," "You Make Me Feel (Like a Natural Woman)," "Think," "Baby I Love You," "The House That Jack Built," and of course "Respect" her most famous hit song, which became a symbol of both feminine and black pride in the 1960s. Franklin's last studio album, So Damn Happy, was released to critical acclaim in 2005. Her debut release on her very own Aretha Records, "A Woman Falling Out of Love," is currently being readied for a January 2007 release date.

Returning as executive producer and director of An Evening of Stars(R) is four-time Emmy Award winner Louis J. Horvitz whose credits include numerous years directing The Academy Awards, The Prime Time Emmy Awards, The Kennedy Center Honors, and The People's Choice Awards. He has also directed The MTV Movie Awards as well as The American Film Institute (AFI) tributes to Robert DeNiro (2003), Meryl Streep (2004), George Lucas (2005) and Sean Connery (2006). Returning as producers of An Evening of Stars(R) are Emmy Award- winner Cort Casady and Bill Urban.

About An Evening of Stars(R)

An Evening of Stars(R), 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, who passed away in January 2006, helped raise more than $200 million for the UNCF to supplement the cost of higher education for scholarship recipients and member institutions. An Evening of Stars(R) has featured a who's who of recognizable talent, including Frank Sinatra, Bill Cosby, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dick Clark, Reba McIntyre, Richard Pryor, Beyonce Knowles, Jill Scott, Luther Vandross, Whoopi Goldberg, Patti LaBelle, Ed McMahon, Michael Bolton, Hall and Oates, Ziggy Marley and scores of others.

About UNCF

As the nation's oldest and most successful minority higher education assistance organization, the United Negro College Fund's mission is to provide financial support to its 39 member institutions and increase minority degree attainment by reducing financial barriers to college. UNCF institutions and other historically black colleges and universities are highly effective, awarding 25 percent of African American baccalaureate degrees. UNCF administers nearly 450 programs, including scholarship, internship and fellowship programs, mentoring, summer enrichment, and curriculum and faculty development programs. Today, UNCF supports more than 65,000 students at over 900 colleges and universities across the country.

Source: United Negro College Fund

CONTACT: Brenda Siler of United Negro College Fund, +1-703-205-3454,
brenda.siler@uncf.org; or Shawn Wood of Burson-Marsteller, +1-214-224-8400,
shawn.wood@bm.com, for United Negro College Fund

-------
Profile: intent