Hudson Music Preserves Historic Night As Rhythm & Blues Foundation Presents Eleventh Annual Pioneer Awards

Market Wire, 20050229

The Rhythm & Blues Foundation held its Eleventh Annual Pioneer Awards on September 6, at the Manhattan Center in New York City. The awards were videotaped for possible television broadcast and distribution on DVD and home video, by Hudson Music LLC , a NYC based video, DVD and record label.

Honorees for the gala included: Johnnie Johnson, Clyde Otis, Sylvia Robinson, Huey "Piano" Smith, Betty Wright, The Chi-Lites, The Impressions and Stevie Wonder with celebrity presenters including Ashford and Simpson, Erykah Badu, Natalie Cole, Aretha Franklin, Harvey Fuqua, Berry Gordy, Isaac Hayes, Chuck Jackson, Gerald Levert, Brian McKnight, Bonnie Raitt, Brenda Rusell, John Sebastian, Sister Sledge, Jimmy Vivino, Mary Wilson and BeBe Winans.

Please contact Hudson Music at (914) 762-5663, fax: (914) 945-0910, email: hudsonpes@aol.com for more information.

Johnnie Johnson is a self taught boogie woogie pianist who hired the legendary guitarist Chuck Berry as a fill-in for the night. The rest, as they say, is history. Johnson's soulful piano licks can be heard on the groundbreaking Berry hits including "Roll Over Beethoven," "Sweet Little Sixteen," "Maybellene," and "Rock and Roll Music." Berry wrote the classic "Johnnie B. Goode" as a tribute to his musical partner and collaborator.

Clyde Otis had his first break in 1954 when Nat King Cole recorded "That's All There Is To That." His next hit came when The Diamonds recorded "The Stroll." In 1958, Otis was appointed the first black head of an A&R Department at a major label-Mercury Records. In that capacity, Otis produced 17 consecutive hits with Brook Benton as well as classics by Dinah Washington, including "What a Difference a Day Makes."After leaving Mercury, Otis went on to write and produce hits for Aretha Franklin, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Johnny Mathis and many others.

Sylvia Robinson, has had an incredibly widely varied career. In 1957, she teamed up with 1999 R&B Pioneer Award honoree Mickey Baker on "Love Is Strange." In 1971, Robinson and her husband set up All Platinum Label and built a roster that included Shirley Goodman, Retta Young and The Moments, and for which she recorded a smash hit, "Pillow Talk." In 1979, Robinson attended a party where she heard a trio rapping through a microphone. She was so impressed; she signed them as The Sugarhill Gang and released "Rapper's Delight." Over the next five years Robinson ran Sugarhill as the most successful rap-oriented label in the US.

Huey "Piano" Smith wrote and recorded some of the most memorable R&B records of the 50s including "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu," "Don't You Just Know It" and "High Blood Pressure", and "Sea Cruise." During the early 50s, Smith played sessions for Lloyd Price, Smiley Lewis and Little Richard. Throughout the 60s, he toured with three different groups, The Pitta Pats, The Hueys, and The Clowns and recorded on the Instant Label.

Betty Wright was only 13 when she had her first taste of national success with the 1968 hit "Girls Can't Do What The Guys Do," a Clarke-Reid composition. Three years later, before she had graduated high school, she scored a million-seller with another Clark-Reid tune "Clean Up Woman," both on Alston Records. Additional hits songs include "Baby Sitter," "Let Me Be Your Lovemaker," "Shoorah! Shoorah!" and "Where Is The Love."

The Chi-Lites were one of the most popular soul quintets on the scene in the late 60s and early 70s. The group was composed of Marshall Thompson (baritone), Creadel Jones (bass), Robert "Squirrel" Lester (tenor), Clarence Johnson (tenor), and Eugene Record (lead). Their first single was "Give It Away" and followed by "Let Me Be The Man My Daddy Was." The group's breakthrough hit was "Give More Power To The People" which they followed up with back-to-back major hits "Have You Seen Her" and "Oh Girl." The Chi-Lites went on to have 20 other top 20 R&B hits including "Stoned Out Of My Mind," "Homely Girl," and "Toby."

The Impressions, one of the most successful soul groups of the 60s, always saw itself as a "message" group. Members of the group over the years included original member Jerry Butler, Curtis Mayfield, Sam Gooden, Fred Cash, and the Brooks brothers, Arthur and Richard. With Butler as the lead singer, the group had a major hit "For Your Precious Love." After Butler left the group, The Impressions went through some difficult times, but regrouped as a trio during the early 60s. Buoyed by Mayfield compositions, arrangements, production, singing and guitar playing, The Impressions began to pick up momentum with a steady stream of chart hits. They went on to record some of the most important songs in R&B history, including "It's All Right," "You Must Believe Me," "Keep On Pushin'," "I'm So Proud," "People Get Ready," and "Woman's Got Soul."

Stevie Wonder is one of the most prolific singers and songwriters in the history of R&B music. He was a child prodigy, already a polished performer on a variety of instruments at the age of 12 when he was spotted by Motown Records president, Berry Gordy, Jr. Wonder's first album "The 12 Year Old Genius" and the single "Fingertips - Part 2" propelled Wonder to the number one position on the Billboard Pop Charts. Throughout the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s Wonder has created a list of hit songs and albums spanning such classics as "Uptight," "A Place In the Sun," "For Once In My Life" "My Cherie Amour" and "Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday." Classic albums include the multiple Grammy-winning "Songs In The Key Of Life," "Looking Back," "Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants" and "Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium."