On Mon., May 25 (Memorial Day), award-winning and platinum-selling music producer, musician and songwriter Narada Michael Walden will present “Let the Sunshine In,” a concert featuring Sting, Bob Weir, The Supremes’ Mary Wilson, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. of The Fifth Dimension, Maestro Michael Morgan, Earl Klugh, David Grisman, Chuck Leavell of the Rolling Stones, Shanice Wilson, Tevin Campbell, Lisa Fisher, Jeanie Tracy, Ralphe Armstrong, Dale “Satchmo” Powers, the Narada Michael Walden Band and other musicians. This special event will benefit Oakland’s Christopher Rodriguez, an innocent victim of gun violence.
In 2008, 12-year-old Christopher was hit by a stray bullet while at a piano lesson. As a result, he is now paralyzed from the waist down.
The concert, held at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, will also support the scholarship fund of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and benefit the work of the Narada Michael Walden Foundation.
Some of the artists will be accompanied by an orchestra of students from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The orchestra will be conducted by Maestro Michael Morgan, music director of the Oakland East Bay Symphony and faculty member at the Conservatory.
Tickets are on sale now. Order online at http://www.cityboxoffice.com [City Box Office] or by calling 415-392-4400.
About Narada Michael Walden
www.naradamichaelwalden.com
Marin County-based Narada Michael Walden, drummer (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jeff Beck, Weather Report), songwriter, producer, performer, three-time Grammy award winner, and Emmy winner has produced countless number-one hits with legendary artists such as Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, and Whitney Houston. He is credited with launching the careers of Houston and Mariah Carey, and the list of his collaborators reads like a Who’s Who of popular music – Sting, Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Ray Charles, Al Jareau, Diana Ross, Steve Winwood, Clarence Clemons, Gladys Knight and Barbara Streisand. He also produced soundtracks for popular films including: The Bodyguard, James Bond: License to Kill, and 9 ½ Weeks.
About the Narada Michael Walden Foundation
www.naradamichaelwaldenfoundation.com
The Narada Michael Walden Foundation (NMWF) is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit created by Grammy award winning producer, drummer, performer and hit songwriter Narada Michael Walden. The foundation's focus is to serve, inspire, educate and provide financial support to children, adults, musicians and worthy organizations through the vehicle of music, music production, music management, concerts and donations.
The NMWF will provide instruments, education, management, production, concerts, creative services, recording, recording facilities and money primarily but not exclusively to Bay Area children, music programs, musicians and worthy causes throughout the world. The NMWF respects the "light" in every person. Music is our vehicle for allowing individuals and charitable organizations to experience their creativity, love and delight.
Performing Stars of Marin, a non-profit that works with the youth of Marin City, Calif., to help them have opportunities in the arts, has long been one of the beneficiaries of the Narada Michael Walden Foundation.
About The San Francisco Conservatory of Music
The San Francisco Conservatory of Music is one of the world’s most distinguished schools of Western musical culture and has earned an international reputation for producing musicians of the very highest caliber. Its better known graduates include Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stern, Jeffrey Kahane, Aaron Jay Kernis, among others.
The Conservatory offers its nearly 400 collegiate and graduate students fully accredited Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programs in all areas of study related to the creation and performance of music. Its Preparatory Division provides over 500 younger students the finest pre-collegiate music education available in the United States. The Conservatory’s faculty and students give more than 400 public performances each year, most of which are offered free to the public. The Conservatory moved to its new home in San Francisco’s Civic Center in 2006. For more information or to view a schedule of concert, please visit www.sfcm.edu.
We thank KBLX-FM, KFOG-FM, 7x7 and SOMA magazine for their support of the “Let the Sunshine In” concert.