White House to celebrate Motown with tribute concert
The White House will celebrate Black History Month with a Feb. 24concert celebrating Detroit's best-known musical import. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will host "The Motown Sound: In Performance at the White House," a tribute to therecord companyBerry Gordy Jr. founded here at the dawn of the 1960s.
The concert will be filmed for broadcast at 8 p.m. March 1 on PBS stations.
Advertisement
Announced performers include just one from Motown's classic era: Smokey Robinson. The rest of the roster arecontemporary artistsNatasha Bedingfield, Sheryl Crow, Jamie Foxx, Gloriana, Nick Jonas, Ledisi, John Legend, Amber Riley, Mark Salling, Seal and Jordin Sparks. Detroiter Greg Phillinganes will serve as music director.
Earlier in the day Feb. 24, Michelle Obama will host a workshop on Motownat the White House for more than 100 students from Michigan, four other states and the District of Columbia. Titled "The Sound of Young America: The Historyof Motown," it will be moderated by Grammy Museum executive director Bob Santelli and includemany of the concert's performers discussing how Motown came about in Detroit and its legacy during the last 50 years.The discussionwill stream live on www.whitehouse.gov, www.pbs.org/whitehouse, www.grammymuseum.org and www.blackpublicmedia.org.
