NEW YORK, NY. (Top40 Charts/ ASCAP Foundation) - Marilyn Bergman, President of The ASCAP Foundation, today announced that legendary singer, recording artist and songwriter Judy Collins will be presented with The ASCAP Foundation
Champion Award for music in the service of vital causes dedicated to a better world on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 in New York. The presentation will highlight the thirteenth annual ASCAP Foundation Awards Ceremony to be held at the Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. The invitation-only event will honor a wide variety of Scholarship and Award recipients, all of whom benefit from programs of The ASCAP Foundation.
Judy Collins has a long and distinguished record as a social activist and humanitarian. In the 1960s, her beautiful voice rang out for civil rights and in opposition to the Vietnam War. An early environmentalist, Collins dedicated her best-selling 1970 album, "Whales and Nightingales," to saving the endangered humpback species of whale. For many years, Collins has served as a UNICEF representative with a special interest in the campaign to destroy existing landmines and abolish their use. In recent decades, Collins has also become a visible and outspoken advocate for the prevention of suicide and for the understanding of victims of depression and substance abuse.
The Colorado-raised Collins has been a force in American music and culture since breaking through as a folk artist in the early 1960s. Since then, she has also recorded contemporary pop, Broadway show tunes and Tin Pan Alley standards; along the way, Collins helped introduce the world to the music of such notable songwriters as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell. In addition, Collins has written many songs that are celebrated in a new album called "Born to the Breed" (Wildflower Records), featuring renditions of her songs by veteran and new artists including Chrissie Hynde, Joan Baez, Dolly Parton, Leonard Cohen and Rufus Wainwright.
Commenting on the award, Ms. Bergman said: "Judy Collins is a sublime musical artist whose social conscience has always been an integral part of her art. Her recordings and her books reflect a person who is extraordinarily sensitive to the human condition. Her advocacy on issues ranging from peace to social justice to mental health issues is to be applauded. For these reasons and more, we are proud to present Judy with The ASCAP Foundation Champion Award."
