This year’s Honorary Chairperson is Clive Davis, the chief creative officer of Sony Music Entertainment; along with special guests Harvey Mason, Jr., president of The Recording Academy; Larry Jackson, founder of Gamma; and Rickey Minor, Whitney’s longtime musical director. Musical performances will include six-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist and songwriter BeBe Winans, Gospel music songstress and songwriter Kim Burrell, and Gary Houston, Whitney’s brother and former NBA basketball player for the Denver Nuggets, who also recorded and toured as a background singer and duet partner with his beloved sister. The gala will be co-hosted by Emmy Award-winning news anchor and Atlanta’s broadcaster Karyn Greer.
Initially established in 1989 as the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children, the organization helped and provided much-needed resources to homeless children, build inner city parks and playgrounds, and provided college scholarships. The Foundation also supported many other charities including the Children’s Defense Fund, Childhood Diabetes, The Rain Forest Foundation, Hale House, Special Olympics, United Negro College Fund, St. Jude Children’s Research, and Whitney’s historic South Africa concerts, which a portion of the proceeds benefited local South African children’s charities.
On August 9, The Estate of Whitney E. Houston and Primary Wave Music, will present, with Sony Corporation of America as the premium partner, the 2nd Annual Whitney Houston Legacy of Love Gala, in celebration of what would have been Whitney’s 60 birthday. The gala will be held at the St. Regis Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia.
In 2020, The Whitney E. Houston Legacy Foundation was formed to continue the mission and important work with today’s youth through programs and services that reflect the values and needs of our young people. The Foundation also serves as a source of empowerment to help rebuild, repair, and restore the self-esteem of our youth and assist them in living productive lives.
Not long after Whitney’s career started in the mid-80s, she was steadfast and focused on starting her foundation for children and young people,says Pat Houston, the executor of The Estate for Whitney E. Houston. Especially now during this time in history with our young people, the work of the foundation is more important than ever. She would be proud to know that we are continuing the work and extending our hand and love to today’s youth, who are dealing with a myriad of challenges. And she would be happy that we are having this occasion and celebrating on what would have been her 60th birthday, surrounded by love with family, friends, and supporters.
The annual fundraiser will also include a silent auction with specially curated items from the Whitney E. Houston Estate, along with other specialty items from ten-time Grammy Award winner Dolly Parton and basketball legend Julius Erving II, among other packages from Broadway to music to fashion to other one-of-kind originals and keepsakes. There will also be a presentation of the 2023 grant recipient of Atlanta’s Living Live Foundation‘s Lighting the Way Youth Mentor program. The Whitney E. Houston Legacy Foundation will also provide several scholarships to students of historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to study the arts. In 1988, Houston was presented with an honorary Doctorate of Arts from Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana.
For more information about The 2nd Annual Whitney Houston Legacy of Love Gala, click here.
