The Rhythm & Blues Foundation Announces Pioneer Awards Co-Hosts

Music Legends Dionne Warwick, Bonnie Raitt and Jerry Butler to Share September 9 Hosting Duties at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia in Celebration of the Foundation’s 20th Year; Chaka Khan, Bill Withers, Kool & the Gang, Donny Hathaway and More to Be Honored in Star-Studded Gala

PHILADELPHIA, PA–(EMWNews – August 22, 2008) – Music legends Dionne Warwick, Bonnie Raitt

and Jerry Butler will co-host the Rhythm & Blues Foundation’s star-studded

20th Anniversary Pioneer Awards gala. The event, to be held at the Kimmel

Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia on September 9, 2008, will

pay homage to Chaka Khan with the Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

In addition, Bill Withers, Teena Marie, and singer-songwriter Sugar Pie

DeSanto will receive the Foundation’s Individual Artist Award; The Whispers

and Kool & the Gang will receive the Foundation’s Group Artists Award;

Motown session players the Funk Brothers will receive the Foundation’s

Sidemen Award; Soul legend Donny Hathaway will posthumously receive a

Legacy Award in recognition of his influential output in the 1970s; and Al

Bell, former president of two renowned record labels, Stax Records and

Motown Records, will be given the Ahmet Ertegun Leadership Award.

Warwick, Butler, and Raitt have deep ties to the Rhythm & Blues Foundation,

and in recognition of the importance of the Foundation’s mission and their

20th anniversary, they have graciously given their time to co-host the

Pioneer Awards show. Bonnie Raitt, one of the top slide guitarists and

singers, as well as a 9-time Grammy Award winner, is a Co-Founder of the

Foundation. Jerry Butler, an original member of soul group The Impressions

and a highly successful R&B/Pop solo artist, served as Chairman of the

Foundation for many years, and is now Chairman Emeritus of the Foundation

as well as a past Pioneer Award honoree. Dionne Warwick, a 5-time Grammy

winner, has served as a Director of the Foundation, and received the

Foundation’s coveted Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.

Patricia Wilson Aden, Executive of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, commented

on the Foundation’s 20th anniversary: “Over the years, the active support

of Jerry Butler, Dionne Warwick and Bonnie Raitt has been enormously

beneficial to the work of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation. It’s only fitting

that they serve as co-hosts as we celebrate our accomplishments over the

past twenty years and prepare to meet the challenges that will come in the

next twenty years.

*PHOTOS ARE AVAILABLE AT www.rhythmblues.org (See media only) or contact

[email protected].

For more information about the Rhythm & Blues Foundation and to purchase

tickets for the 2008 Pioneer Awards, please visit www.rhythmblues.org or

call 215-568-1080.

This year’s Pioneer Awards sponsors include American Airlines, Amtrak, BMI,

Independent Blue Cross, Music Choice, Bank of America, Philadelphia

International Records, Comcast, Universal Music Group and Jaguar. Media

partners Music Choice, WRNB-Radio One, WDAS-ClearChannel Radio and XM Radio

Satellite.