New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Grammy-winning singer
Mariah Carey took the stage at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on
Thursday night to perform at a free concert to commemorate World AIDS Day (December 1) and celebrate the 30th anniversary of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world's largest AIDS organization. The show opened with a dance performance by AHF Partner Debbie Allen and the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. AHF Partner and award-winning music producer
DJ Khaled performed a set that included a surprise guest performance by Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Ne-Yo. Vonzell Solomon, American Idol Season 4 finalist, gave a stirring live performance.
Mario Lopez, Emmy-winning host of Extra entertainment news show, and Daytime Emmy-winning actress/transgender activist, Laverne Cox, served as hosts for the evening. During the event, AHF presented The Chris Brownlie Community
Champion Award, named in honor of gay political activist and AHF co-founder Chris Brownlie, to Impulse Group United, its international advocacy and empowerment group dedicated to promoting healthier sexual lifestyles among young gay men in 20 cities around the world. 19-year-old singer/songwriter Verlla Vee, grand prize winner of AHF's
National Jingle song contest, performed her winning original song about HIV/AIDS during the concert's pre-show.
Images from the red carpet and concert event can be viewed and downloaded here:
https://assignments.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/gyipa_public?nav=pr552980550
The free concert in Los Angeles is part of a series of events across the world to continue to spread awareness about HIV and AIDS. The activities will include free concerts in Haiti, Mexico City and the United States as well as free awareness and testing events throughout the U.S., Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Eastern
Europe and Asia.
"It's not an everyday occurrence to have a group of the world's most talented stars put on a free concert to draw attention to the ongoing fight against HIV/AIDS. We were so honored to have Mariah, DJ Khaled,
Ne-Yo and the Debbie Allen Dance Academy join us in Los Angeles to celebrate World AIDS Day and the 30th anniversary of AIDS Healthcare Foundation," said AHF President Michael Weinstein. "As we look back on how far we've come over the last 30 years, modern medicine has made enormous leaps and bounds so that now, if you are in treatment and undetectable, you cannot spread HIV/AIDS. AHF is more determined than ever to hold the U.S. and the international community accountable to keep their promise to end the global AIDS epidemic so that people around the world know to be tested, learn their status and have access to resources to the medications and resources needed to keep people living with HIV in treatment and healthy."
According to UNAIDS, over 36 million people are living with HIV/AIDS around the world. Each year 2 million people become infected with the virus and 1 million people die of AIDS-related causes. While millions of people today are accessing lifesaving antiretroviral therapy, millions more still desperately need it. The end of the epidemic is only possible, if governments and world leaders Keep the Promise on AIDS."
Visit AHFWAD.org for more information on the concert events AHF will host in Miami, Haiti and Mexico City.
About AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF)
In 1987, a group of activists founded AIDS Hospice Foundation in Los Angeles to provide a final resting place for terminally ill AIDS patients. Three years later, as lifesaving antiretroviral medical therapy was introduced, AIDS Hospice Foundation changed its name to AIDS Healthcare Foundation in 1990 to signify its new focus on being a medical provider to people living with HIV/AIDS.
AHF funds its mission to rid the world of AIDS through a network of pharmacies, thrift stores, healthcare contracts and other strategic partnerships. Today, as the largest global AIDS organization, AHF currently provides medical care and/or services to over 833,000 individuals in 39 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us @aidshealthcare.
