USA: BENEFIT CONCERT FOR THE CANDIE'S FOUNDATION, AN ORGANISATION THAT AIMS TO REDUCE TEEN PREGNANCY

Record ID: 393562

  • Title: USA: BENEFIT CONCERT FOR THE CANDIE'S FOUNDATION, AN ORGANISATION THAT AIMS TO REDUCE TEEN PREGNANCY
  • Date: 5th June 2001
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, USA (JUNE 5, 2001) (REUTERS (PERFORMANCE CLEARANCE REQUIRED ) VARIOUS MACY GRAY PERFORMS, "I TRY" (6 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 20th June 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, USA
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA4CWCXIEY3OBMP411CBTPCNAOU
  • Story Text: Destiny's Child, Macy Gray and 98 Degrees were just a few of the performers who turned out for a benefit concert on Tuesday for the Candie's Foundation, an organisation that aims to reduce teen pregnancy through education and heightened awareness.
    It was a night of hot music, beautiful people and a message of safe sex for teens at "The Event to Prevent," a benefit concert to raise money for The Candie's Foundation at New York's famed Roseland Ballroom.
    The Foundation was established this year and is sure to touch a lot of young people over the years through concerts, television commercials and seminars all with the goal of reducing the high teen pregnancy rate in the United States.
    The concert featured Destiny's Child who did a spirited version of their latest hit, "Survivor." Destiny's Child has been one of the hottest acts for quite some time and has dominated the charts over much of this year. Their success has not slipped by the band's attention, " I mean it's unbelievable, our album debuted at number one, it was number one for two weeks now it's number two, it went up to number two it was number three now it went up to number two, anyway it just feels wonderful."
    Also performing at the concert was Macy Gray who did her biggest hit, "I Try." Gray, the stunningly tall and quite frank singer spoke about how she has shaped her career, "I mean it's just my genius and my natural brilliance and beauty and charm." The Diva went on to say that she was able to become a successful artist by, "Just doing my thing I did the clubs and stuff and prayed a lot and I put myself around a lot of good people you know."
    One of the hottest boy bands in the world, 98 Degrees was also on hand to perform, The band had the girls in the audience dancing to their up beat songs with most eyes in the audience on the lead singer Nick. The evenings purpose did not escape the teen heartthrob who took time out to address the issue of teen pregnancy, "The best thing to remember is that the decisions you make as a teenager, you know a fourteen or fifteen year old can affect you for years and years so really think it through and be responsible because once you do something that's adult you have to make adult decisions about being responsible and that's a tough thing so think about it."
    Up and comers Willa Ford and Joy Enriquez were also performers for a crowd of mostly teenagers who came out in large numbers to see their favorite performers and check out some new ones as well.
    The star of the Academy Award winning film, American Beauty, Thora Birch was also in attendance to get the word out about teen pregnancy. Birch says that in this day and age, abstinence is barely an option, "It's all about prevention, it's not about prevention through a number specific ways I mean yes there's abstinence but you can't really preach that in today's world, I think it's more about presenting the message of look have fun but just really, really think about what you're doing before you do it and who cares what the guy says you know wear a sock, I'm sorry but just put it on."
    The Candie's Foundation will blitz the television airwaves with a series of public service announcements and will also fill teen magazines with ads urging teens to be aware of the problem of teen pregnancy throughout the United States. Among the messages that the foundation will be presenting is the fact that one million teenage girls will become pregnant this year and that 40% of teenage girls will experience at least one pregnancy before reaching the age of 20. What could be the saddest facts of all is that nearly 80% of unmarried teen mothers end up on welfare as well as the fact that 80% of fathers of babies born to teen mothers do not marry their babies mothers. The United States has the highest teen pregnancy and birth rates of any fully industrialized nation.
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