AUSTIN,
Texas ( Recording Academy) - The
Texas Chapter of The Recording Academy has named three-time GRAMMY winner Yolanda Adams, hip-hop music label SWISHAHOUSE,
Texas blues-rock icons ZZ Top, and South By Southwest
Music Festival co-founders Nick Barbaro, Louis
Black and Roland Swenson as recipients of its Recording Academy Honors 2006. The Recording Academy Honors was established to celebrate outstanding individuals whose work embodies excellence and integrity and who have improved the environment for the creative community. The event - which will attract recording artists, key entertainment executives and community leaders - will be held Monday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. at the Austin Convention Center Ballroom. Formerly known as the Governors Awards, this gala supports the
Texas Chapter's ongoing programs, with this year's silent auction proceeds benefiting MusiCares for support of Texas-based musicians.
The evening will begin with a cocktail hour and silent auction. A dinner and awards show will follow and recognize the careers of the esteemed honorees with celebrity presenters and performers.
Tickets for The Recording Academy Honors are $100 for Academy members, $175 for non-members (before Oct. 10) and are available by calling the Texas Chapter at 512.328.7997. After Oct. 10, tickets are $150 for Academy members and will remain at $175 for non-members. Qualified music professionals can join The Academy for $100 (membership through June '07) and purchase tickets at the member price. Sponsorship packages are also available.
About The Honorees:
Yolanda Adams
Three-time GRAMMY winner and Stellar Award winner Yolanda Adams is one of the most persuasive and popular voices in contemporary gospel music. Working with some of the biggest names in pop, R&B, hip-hop and gospel, Adams' career has been marked by a string of hugely successful albums, sold-out tours, stand-out TV appearances, and a desire to incorporate into her music a multitude of genres and influences. Her 1998 album Just As I Am drew comparisons to Aretha Franklin and since then, she has released seven additional albums collaborating with the likes of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis and Keith Thomas. In 2005, Adams founded Voice Of An Angel Foundation, which focuses on mentoring high school students nationwide in order to help them pursue a career in education. In addition, she works closely with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources to ensure that kids in low-income areas receive immunizations. Additionally, Adams lends her energy and commitment to a number of other child-based organizations, including The Children's Defense Fund and Houston charities such as juvenile diabetes and The Escape Center.
SWISHAHOUSE
"Major without a major deal!" That was and still remains the core of independently operated record label SWISHAHOUSE's mission statement. The collaborative talents of founders DJ Michael "5000" Watts and G Dash's business savvy led the label to garner national attention and brand Houston's unique hip-hop culture by highlighting slowed down chopped and screwed music, kitted cars, diamond encrusted grills and southern landscape. In 1999, SWISHAHOUSE had its first official release, The Day All Hell Broke Loose Part One, a compilation that set the pace for the growth of the label. Without a major label deal, SWISHAHOUSE acquired numerous spins on major music networks MTV and BET. Heavy radio rotation ensued as well, catapulting the popularity of artists such as Paul Wall, Slim Thug, Mike Jones, Archie Lee and Lil' Kike. Soon after, self-branding genius Mike Jones released Who Is Mike Jones? on Warner Brothers while grill-constructing rapper Paul Wall's The People's Champ was released on Atlantic Records. Both SWISHAHOUSE artists contributed successful singles - "Still Tippin'," "Back Then," and "Sittin' Sideways" - to 2005's Billboard charts.
ZZ Top
After almost 36 years of rock and blues, ZZ Top (a/k/a "That Little Ol' Band From Texas") is one of the longest running major rock bands with original band members Billy F. Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard. Their third album, Tres Hombres, catapulted them to national attention with the hit "La Grange," still one of the band's signature pieces today. Their 1983 release, Eliminator, was something of a paradigm shift for ZZ Top. Their roots skew was intact but added to the mix were tech-age trappings that soon found a visual outlet with the nascent MTV. Suddenly, Gibbons, Hill and Beard were video icons, playing a kind of classical Greek chorus in videos that highlighted the album's three smash singles: "Gimme All Your Lovin," "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Legs." The melding of grungy guitar-based blues with synthpop was seamless and continued with the follow-up album Afterburner as they sustained their chart juggernaut. ZZ Top accomplished keeping up with the times while simultaneously bucking ephemeral trends that crossed their path. A certified rock institution, contemporary in every way, yet still completely connected to the founding fathers of the genre, ZZ Top's music is instantly recognizable, eminently powerful, profoundly soulful and 100 percent Texas American in derivation.
South By Southwest Music Conference and Festival co-founders Nick Barbaro, Louis Black and Roland Swenson With 21,000 registrants and 60-plus venues showcasing 1,500 bands, the SXSW Music Conference and Festival has drawn music industry professionals to Austin for more than 20 years, solidifying its place as one of the most influential music events in the world. With a common goal of creating an event that would act as a tool for creative people to meet, share ideas and develop their careers, Nick Barbaro, Louis Black and Roland Swenson embarked on a journey that not only launched the careers of some of today's top artists but also had a significant economic impact on central Texas, as well as a major impact on the global music industry.
A graduate of UCLA, Barbaro moved to Austin in 1975, where he learned about music at some of Austin's music landmarks such as the Armadillo World Headquarters, Raul's and Club Foot. In 1981, Barbaro co-founded (and currently works as publisher of) The Austin Chronicle, one of the largest independently owned alternative news weeklies in the country.
Black, co-founder and current editor of The Austin Chronicle, is an advocate for the arts community and is a board member of the Austin Film Society as well as co-founder of the Texas Film Hall of Fame. Black is an executive producer of "SXSW Presents," a KLRU-TV show highlighting Film Festival circuit films, and of Be HereTto Love Me, a film about Townes Van Zandt. Currently he is executive producing the DVD release of Eagle Pennel's The Whole Shootin' Match.
Managing Director of SXSW, Swenson was involved as an artist manager, indie label owner and producer in Austin's fabled music scene of the late 1970s, while attending the University of Texas. After joining the staff of the young Austin Chronicle weekly newspaper in 1984, Swenson eventually found the opportunity to meld both music and media by co-founding SXSW.
