NORFOLK, Va. (Top40 Charts/ Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Virginia) - Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Virginia announced today it has added American Idol Finalist and Virginia native
Elliott Yamin and music legend
Gloria Gaynor to this year's lineup for AnthemLIVE! Yamin and Gaynor will perform during the event that will feature tennis stars
James Blake, Serena Williams, Mardy Fish and
Tatiana Golovin.
AnthemLIVE! will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007 at Old Dominion University's Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk. Gaynor will perform to kickoff the evening and will be followed by male and female singles tennis. Yamin will then perform before the event concludes with a doubles competition featuring all the tennis players.
"We are truly pleased that these two performers have agreed to join us to help conquer this disease," said Tom Byrd, president, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Virginia. "We look forward to a great night of entertainment, both music and tennis, with the added benefit of raising money for the fight against cancer."
New to the national scene, Yamin, 29, was born in Los Angeles. Yamin and his family, his mother a professional singer, eventually moved to Richmond during his middle school years where he stayed until his famous Idol auditions. Yamin first gained recognition as the third runner up on the fifth season of the popular reality show, American Idol. He has steadily gained popularity and has won the hearts of millions with his soulful voice and likable presence. In December 2006, he signed a publishing deal with Sony and released a cover of Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas," which appeared on iTunes. In March, he released his first self-titled debut album, which recently went Gold.
Currently, Yamin is on tour traveling across the country. Yamin's whiskey- soaked tenor - an instrument he characterizes as "raw" and "gritty," more Wilson Pickett than Sam Cooke - unifies the disc's disparate flavors. The record is also commendable for capturing the immediacy of Yamin's live performances and his palpable joy in singing.
A music legend and recognized worldwide, Gaynor has set the standard for popular music. In 1973, Gaynor made history by reaching No. 1 with "Never Can Say Goodbye" as Billboard gave birth to the Disco Action Charts. It was the first dance song to reach No. 1 in the dance music category. She is known the world over and continues to travel, much to the delight of her fans, to entertain audiences with a show that is everything you come to expect of this energetic and entertaining woman. Next year brings the 30th anniversary of "I Will Survive," which appropriately serves as an anthem to causes like AnthemLIVE! Her popularity continues in the new millennium with a LEGEND award presented by long-time fan Prince Albert at the World Music Awards in 2002. In September 2005, Gaynor was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame. Gaynor has personally been affected by cancer. She lost her mother to the disease and her brother was also diagnosed with cancer. She is also an avid supporter of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
Since its inception, AnthemLIVE! has raised more than $2.2 million for cancer research, including more than $450,000 in 2006. This year's event will again benefit groundbreaking cancer research at Eastern Virginia Medical School, Virginia Commonwealth University's Massey Cancer Center and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Ticket Information
Tickets for AnthemLIVE! are available through Cox Tix at https://www.constantcenter.com or (888) 411-4TED, or the Constant Center Box Office. Ticket prices will range from $15 to $100. Courtside box seats for six are available for $2,500.
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Virginia is an operating subsidiary of WellPoint Inc., whose mission is to improve the lives of the people it serves and the health of its communities. It is the largest health benefits company in terms of commercial membership in the United States. Through its nationwide networks, the company delivers a number of leading health benefit solutions through a broad portfolio of integrated health care plans and related services, along with a wide range of specialty products such as life and disability insurance benefits, pharmacy benefit management, dental, vision, behavioral health benefit services, as well as long term care insurance and flexible spending accounts. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, it is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and serves its members as the Blue Cross licensee for California; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee for Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area), Nevada, New Hampshire, New York (as Blue Cross Blue Shield in 10 New York City metropolitan and surrounding counties and as Blue Cross or Blue Cross Blue Shield in selected upstate counties only), Ohio, Virginia (excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.), Wisconsin; and through UniCare.
For more information on Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Virginia, please visit https://www.anthem.com and choose "Virginia."
