(Los Angeles, CA – April 18, 2024) — The Living Legends Foundation, Inc. (LLF) today announces its 2024 Annual Awards Dinner and Gala. This year’s event will be held on Friday, October 4, 2024, at Taglyan Cultural Complex, 1201 N. Vine Street, Hollywood, CA. The red carpet and cocktail reception begin at 6:30 p.m. with the awards dinner at 7:30 p.m.
Donnie Simpson
The legendary radio and television broadcaster, who recently signed off the airwaves earlier this year after a trailblazing 55-year career in music, entertainment, and sports that started at WJLB-FM Detroit, Michigan, and later moved to Washington, DC, where he continued his historic career in broadcasting with media outlets such as WKYS-FM, WPGC-FM, NBC’s WRC-TV, where he covered sports, and the newly formed Black Entertainment Television, and years later at WMMJ-FM’s Majic 102.3. Simpson was inducted into the R&B Music Hall of Fame (2015), and he was the only non-musician ever inducted into the organization. He was also inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame (2020), and the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame (2024). The broadcast icon will be presented with the Living Legends Foundation’s Jerry Boulding Radio Award.
Joi Brown
The founder and CEO of Culture Creators. She has successfully positioned the organization as a vital link between global cultural leaders and a new generation of diverse creators. The Culture Creators Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, underscores this commitment by developing training programs for students of color in various industries. These programs enhance traditional curricula with real-time training, focusing on soft and hard skill development. She is the recipient of the Adcolor Music Award (2023) and was included in Essence magazine’s Power 40 list. The former senior-level record label executive will be the recipient of the first-ever Impact Player Award.
L. Lonell McMillan
A longtime entertainment attorney, an entrepreneur, an advocate for music and entertainment creators and executives, and the chairperson of the NorthStar Group. With a career spanning more than three decades, McMillan has represented the Mount Rushmore of entertainers including Michael Jackson, Prince, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Spike Lee, Notorious B.I.G., Kanye West, Roberta Flack, Doug E. Fresh, LL Cool J, Nas, DMX, and countless other recording artists, celebrities, corporate and non-profit entities, and civil rights leaders. Under the NorthStar Group, he serves as executive publisher of the Source magazine and other media platforms. McMillan will be the recipient of the Kendall A. Minter Entertainment Advocate Award, renamed after his recent passing.
Chris Chambers
The founder and CEO of The Chamber Group, the New York-based boutique public relations firm, founded in 2006. From Chambers’ record label days to his successful journey as an entrepreneur, past and present, he has represented some of the biggest and brightest celebrities in music, entertainment, fashion, and sports, including Usher, Mariah Carey, OutKast, Erykah Badu, Jamie Foxx, Drake, Ne-Yo, Jill Scott, Naomi Campbell, Chaka Khan, Kelly Rowland, Solange, as well as corporate and lifestyle clients and projects such as Versace, Gucci, HBO, Starz, Netflix, the National Hockey League, the Essence Music Festival, just to name a few. Before The Chamber Group was formed, he had a groundbreaking career at several major record labels including Mercury Records, EMI Records, Interscope Records, Arista Records, LaFace Records and Sean Combs’ Bad Boy Entertainment. Chambers will be presented with the Media Executive Award.
Gwen Franklin
The the founder and CEO of B. Lifted Up! Inc., whose mission is to empower through insight, education, and training. Franklin began her career in radio broadcasting at Howard University’s WHUR-FM while earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications. From radio to records, Franklin’s more than thirty-plus-year career has included various senior-level positions including radio promotions, marketing, sales, and artist development during her tenures at Casablanca, A&M, Capitol, Mercury and RCA Records. While working at A&M Records, she returned to college and earned a Master of Business Administration from Baruch College, The City University of New York. She recently received her Master of Arts in Transformational Leadership Administration (MATLA) from New York Theological Seminary. As an educator, she served as an adjunct professor of Marketing & Merchandising at the recently named New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development; and Ramapo College of New Jersey’s School of Communication Arts, where she taught Marketing & Entrepreneurial Business Environment. Returning to her roots, Franklin’s latest venture is B. Lifted Up! Radio’s Your Guide To Living An Abundant Life, is a weekly radio program in collaboration with the Mocha Podcasts Network that blends faith and finance with contextual contemporary conversation. The program airs on SiriusXM’s HUR Voices (Channel 141). Franklin will be presented with the Mike Bernardo Female Executive Award for her expansive and concurrent work in multiple industries.
Mike Kelly
A veteran record label executive and a radio broadcaster with more than 40 years in music and entertainment. Kelly started his nearly ten-year radio broadcast career in 1979, as an on-air talent at KADO-FM (Texarkana, AR) and WAWA-AM (Milwaukee, WI). He added the title of program director to his resume, where he programmed radio stations KAPE-AM (San Antonio, TX) and the legendary KATZ-FM (St Louis, MO). After Kelly’s successful career in broadcasting, he started a 30-plus year career working as a radio promotions executive at six record labels including Arista Records, Motown Records, Mercury Records, Elektra Records, Warner Music Group and Atlantic Records. Kelly continues to work as a radio consultant with his company, Real One 24/7 Promotion and Marketing. He will be the recipient of the Music Executive Award.