USA: 6TH ANNUAL NEW YORK HEROES AWARDS HONOURS KISS, CAROLE KING AND MUSIC MOGUL RUSSELL SIMMONS

Record ID: 392374

  • Title: USA: 6TH ANNUAL NEW YORK HEROES AWARDS HONOURS KISS, CAROLE KING AND MUSIC MOGUL RUSSELL SIMMONS
  • Date: 4th December 2001
  • Summary: (CLEARANCE REQUIRED) VARIOUS OF "KISS" BIO WITH PERFORMANCES, STILLS AND ARTISTIC RENDERINGS OF THE BAND
  • Embargoed: 19th December 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment,General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2RK34AHBYDJC0Z3YGGYS2I6V2
  • Story Text: The 6th annual New York Heroes Awards honoring the band Kiss, singer/songwriter Carole King and music mogul Russell Simmons was held on Tuesday in New York.
    The New York chapter of the Recording Academy honored a few New Yorkers whose names and celebrity reach around the world.
    The members of the band "Kiss," Carole King and Russell Simmons were all awarded on Tuesday (December 4), for their charity work, social activism and reaching out to the community at large. A fourth recipient, Linda Moran, a music industry executive was honored as well.
    Proceeds from the charity dinner and awards ceremony held at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York were donated to the families of the fallen World Trade Center rescue workers.
    "Kiss," a band that shook the world in the 1970's with their over the top rock, outrageous make-up and sold-out pyrotechnical shows were honored for their work over the years giving benefit performances, donating memorabilia as well as working with the United Way, Partnership for a Drug-Free America, Feed the Children and other charities.
    The lead singer of the band, Gene Simmons said that the band never wanted to draw attention to their charitable donations,
    "Again, we have a different philosophy than a lot of other artists. We prefer not to get up on stage and herald our good will and our charity work so you'll never find us with a big blow up of a check that we just gave to charity but obviously, privately, we do a lot of charity work but prefer not to use it as a public relations ploy and I mean that in the nicest way. So we're all about doing good will towards men and so on but the notion of mixing career with making sure that you know that we are charity givers is not our style."
    The guitarist from "Kiss," Paul Stanley mentioned in his acceptance speech that he feels that as an entertainer, just helping people get through some of the worst days ever is enough, "We have brave firemen, we have the New York City Police Department, there's no end to the true heroes, we're entertainers, if we can make it easier for anybody to get through some of these tough times than we are doubly honored to be up here and I thank you."
    Carole King is a legend in the music business. She's composed some of the best loved songs of all time including: "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," The Locomotion,"
    "One Fine Day" and many, many others. She broke barriers as a female recording star with her early 70's album, "Tapestry"
    which included a string of hits as well.
    Her response to being called a hero was also pointed to the fact that the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center made many a New Yorkers heroes, "Well it's really special because it's a New York heroes award in late 2001, it's a city full of heroes and that anybody would even think of considering me one is very touching and I'm greatly honored."
    King's work with a few environmental organizations that support wilderness preservation was just one of the reasons that she was honored by the Recording Academy.
    Russell Simmons is credited with putting rap and hip-hop into main stream culture. His record label, Def-Jam records was the cornerstone for the boom in urban music in the 1980's. Today, the music company is valued at $250 million. In 1992 he founded Phat Farm clothing, one of the most successful clothing companies to spring up in the 1990's.
    For Simmons, the most important part of all is the role the music industry plays in shaping the kids of today, "Well I'm hopeful that the music industry will lead the way in changing the way young people think about politics and social issues, I mean that people today are I wouldn't say selfish but they are not attached to each other like they should be and music has been the core in our culture and our culture has been one where we participate in government."
    Simmons' Rush Philanthropic Foundation is a nonprofit organization that helps under privileged kids gain access to the arts. His brother, Run Simmons of Run DMC awarded Russell with his award.
    Linda Moran an executive with Warner Music was honored as well. She has put together numerous fund raising events with musicians including, Faith Hill and Brandi. Moran has worked for Time Warner Chairman, Gerald Levin for a number of years and he was on hand for her award.
    --
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