WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Pop singer and songwriter Roberta Flack, husband-and-wife duo Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson and gospel singer CeCe Winans are scheduled to perform Friday Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. at Reynolds Auditorium, 301 N. Hawthorne Rd. to benefit the Maya Angelou Research Center on Minority Health at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Admission will be charged.
The second annual “Evening of Healing Through Song” hosted by poet and author Maya Angelou, is the Angelou Research Center’s signature local fundraising event. Angelou is Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University. Talk-show host Oprah Winfrey co-hosted the event last year with Angelou. It was created by the Angelou Research Center to encourage local public support for minority health issues and research addressing racial and ethnic health disparities.
“All of our citizens do not benefit from the advances of modern medicine,” said Kristy F. Woods, M.D., director of the Angelou Research Center. “African-Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, American Indians and other racial and ethnic minorities suffer disproportionately from diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke, cancer, HIV/AIDS, infant mortality and other chronic illnesses.”
Flack, who was born in Asheville and raised in Arlington, Va., is best known for her 1972 Grammy®-award winning record of the year and song of the year, “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and best pop vocal duo winner, “Where is the Love?” with Danny Hathaway. Those hits were followed by “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” which was honored with Grammies for record of the year, song of the year and best pop vocal by a female artist in 1973.
Ashford & Simpson are among the most prolific song-writing duos in recording history. Over the past 40 years their compositions have garnered 22 gold and platinum records and more than 50 ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) awards including the prestigious Founders Award for outstanding contribution to and influence on popular music.
Their hits include, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “Solid,” “I’m Every Woman,” You’re All I Need To Get By,” and Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing,” recorded by performers such as Diana Ross, Chaka Kahn, Whitney Houston, Gladys Knight and the Pips and Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.
Winans is a five-time Grammy winner and multiple honoree by the Gospel Music Association and Stellar Awards. Her music ranges from the sacred to the secular, crossing the lines of rhythm and blues, popular and gospel.
Tickets are available at the Stevens Center box office, (336) 721-1945. For information, contact the Angelou Research Center, (336) 713-7600, www.wfubmc.edu/minorityhealth.
###
Media Contacts: Jim Steele, jsteele@wfubmc.edu, Shannon Koontz, shkoontz@wfubmc.edu, or Karen Richardson, krchrdsn@wfubmc.edu, at (336) 716-4587.
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is an academic health system comprised of North Carolina Baptist Hospital and Wake Forest University Health Sciences, which operates the university’s School of Medicine and its other related enterprises including the Piedmont Triad Research Park. The Medical School is ranked 4th in the Southeastern United States in revenues from its licensed intellectual property.