AFTRA Members Featured at "GRAMMY Icons"

Posted November 21, 2011

On Thursday, Nov. 17, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, AFL-CIO (AFTRA), the Beverly Hills/Hollywood Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and West Los Angeles College presented “GRAMMY Icons: Life, Before and After” at the College’s Campus Theater in Culver City. 

 

This panel discussion was held in recognition of GRAMMY Nominations Month, which is November each year. The onstage conversation featured award-winning pop, R&B and gospel vocalists, songwriters, arrangers and producers Della Reese, Thelma Houston, Ray Parker Jr., Joyce Vincent, and Pam Vincent all of whom are AFTRA members and GRAMMY Award winners or nominees. Legendary producer, songwriter and keyboardist Thomas T.C. Campbell completed this amazing line-up of panelists.

 

This onstage conversation was moderated by Alvin Chea, co-founder of the group TAKE 6 who, with 8 wins and 19 nominations, has won the most GRAMMY Awards for a Vocal Group in history.

 

This successful evening of musical artists inspired young and old alike. Industry attendees, community representatives and students from West L.A. College learned about their musical heritage, and the artistry involved in creating award-winning compositions. The audience laughed with and listened intently to the wisdom of the legendary Della Reese whose career began in the late 1930’s in church, at the age of 6. The students were especially interested to hear about the various paths each of these artists took to reach the pinnacle of success, and what took place in their careers and lives after their GRAMMY successes. The audience had many questions for the panelists including how they achieved longevity in the music industry.

 

“As a program created by our Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP & AFTRA Entertainment Partnership,” said AFTRA’s National Director for Equal Employment Opportunities Ray Bradford, “we celebrated GRAMMY Nominations Month by bringing together an accomplished group of singers, performers and worldwide touring artists and heard about their life journeys, musical roots and how awards and recognitions have impacted their career trajectories. Most importantly, holding it at West LA College gave students and young people exposure to those that have come before and on whose shoulders we all stand.”

 

AFTRA National Executive Director Kim Roberts Hedgpeth said: “We are extremely proud to have been a partner in celebrating the contributions of some of our industry’s finest and most creative musical icons. The evening featured recording artists, producers, arrangers, television performers and humanitarians, which not only reflected the range of talent within our African American community, but represented the diverse American scene within the broad landscape of musical artistry in this country and in our very own community.”

 

“It is noteworthy that we saluted this gathering of extraordinary musical artists during GRAMMY Nominations Month,” said Willis Edwards of the Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP. “These award-winning recording artists and internationally known performers are an important part of our community and history as a people. The significance of bringing them together at West LA College, to share their stories and vision to an audience that included students, is part of NAACP’s mission and the focus of our Entertainment Partnership with AFTRA.”

 

A recurring message of the evening was best summarized by moderator Alvin Chea, who paraphrased the words of one of his mentors, Quincy Jones. “Remember how hard you worked when no one knew who you were,” stated Chea. “Work that hard every day. That will give you longevity.”

 

The evening was a result of the recent Entertainment Partnership between AFTRA & the Beverly Hills Hollywood NAACP. In the interest of enhancing a strategic relationship that has spanned decades, this new Entertainment Partnership was created to find new and creative ways to further their mutual goals of equality, diversity and the depiction of the American scene in entertainment media.  

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