In celebration of #BlackMusicMonth & our 30th Anniversary, we remember the 1993 awards dinner. It occurred to Ray Harris that since most of the record companies were on the East Coast, we should hold the awards dinner closer to them. We moved the event to Bally’s Park Place and Casino in Atlantic City, NJ and tied it into Impact Magazine’s Super Summit Convention. Although it was a competitor’s convention, Jerry Boulding didn’t blink when Ray told him of the plan. They shared a vision and were successful for many years recognizing and helping industry brothers and sisters. It was also a bittersweet awards show. Beloved indie promotion man, Jimmy Bee, had a heart attack in his driveway as he was heading to the airport to fly to the awards dinner. We held a moment of silence in his memory. The honorees in 1993 were:
L-R: Bernadine C. Washington, VP, WVON Chicago; Leon Huff, half of the songwriting & producing duo, Gamble & Huff; Bruce Webb, retailer Webb’s Department Store, Philadelphia
L-R: Jimmy Bee, indie promotion man in San Francisco; Doug “Jocko” Henderson, air personality WHAT, WDAS Philadelphia, publisher Philly Talk magazine; Al Jefferson, programmer WOOK, WUST, WWIN DC & Baltimore and indie firm Al & The Kidd Promotions; Louise Williams-Bishop, air personality WDAS and former member of Pennsylvania House of Representatives
L-R: Georgie Woods, DJ WWRL, WHAT, WDAS Philadelphia & civil rights activist; Kenny Gamble, half of songwriting & producing duo Gamble & Huff & co-founder of Black Music Month; “King James” Cephas, musician & owner of 3 King James Records stores, Philadelphia
Some of these honorees are no longer with us but their contributions to the Black Music industry will never be forgotten.
Full bios will be at livinglegendsfoundation.com
#livinglegendsfoundation30 #musicdaypodcast #BlackMusic365 #tellourownstories