Rhythm & Blues Foundation Holds 10th Awards Gala In California

Jet, March 22, 1999

Patti LaBelle reunited with the original Bluebelles for the first time in 31 years during the recent 10th Annual Rhythm & Blues Foundation's Pioneer Awards gala at Sony Pictures Studios in the Los Angeles suburb of Culver City.

In a massive, elegant tent on the studio grounds, Lauryn Hill, fresh from winning a record five Grammy Awards (no other woman had won more than four), paid tribute to LaBelle, Nona Hendryx, Cindy Birdsong and Sarah Dash. As she presented the award to LaBelle, Hill said: "This is the best part of my year right here." She went on to say: "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the album, but you guys were my teachers. You are solely responsible for everything I do and everything I am musically."

The hit songwriting team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter was singled out for honors as pioneers in Rhythm and Blues spotlighting their music collaborations. The duo penned such Top 10 tunes for R&B singers Sam & Dave as Hold On, I'm Comin'; When Something is Wrong With My Baby; and Soul Man.

Another high point of the evening occurred when pop legend Dionne Warwick presented an award to her sister, R&B singer Dee Dee Warwick. Her hits include Foolish Fool, She Didn't Know (She Kept On Talking) and I'm Gonna Make You Love Me, a song that was later recorded by The Supremes and The Temptations.

Others honored during the evening were Johnny Adams (posthumously), Brenda Holloway (who sang her '60s hit Every Little Bit Hurts), Joe Simon, Ashford and Simpson, Mickey Baker, Barbara Lynn, Barbara Lewis, the Drifters members Bill Pinkney, Charlie Thomas and (Johnny Moore posthumously), The Manhattans, and Garnet Mimms. John Lee Hooker was given the Lifetime Achievement Award and the late Sam Cooke was given the inaugural Legacy Award.

Smokey Robinson emceed the program that attempts to pay back the groundbreaking artists who received little or no royalties for their works. Inductees are awarded $15,000 each or $5,000 for members of groups. Lifetime Achievement Award winners receive $25,000.

Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles sang You'll Never Walk Alone and the honored members of the Drifters sang their hit Under the Boardwalk.

The show closed with an all-star jam session as Hooker was joined on stage by such famed guitarists/performers as Kevin Eubanks, Larry Graham, Eric Clapton and Bonnie Raitt.