GRAMMYs on the Hill

GRAMMYs on the Hill

Photo credit: Brendan Kownacki

Play Fair was the message that hundreds of musicians took to Washington for Advocacy Day on The Hill, preceded by The Recording Academy®‘s GRAMMYs on the Hill the night before that honored three time GRAMMY winners Zac Brown Band, Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Thomas J. Rooney (R-Fla.) at The Hamilton.  The spectacular blowout musical event is considered Washington’s most interesting mix of music and politics geared to improving the cultural condition and quality of life for music and its makers. The Academy’s Advocacy & Public Policy office serves as policymakers’ go-to representative of the collective world of recording professionals — performers, songwriters and studio professionals.

Zac Brown Band

Zac Brown Band

“With the advent of what’s going on online – people downloading your music for free – it’s almost like putting you into bankruptcy,” GRAMMY winner Smokey Robinson told Hollywood on the Potomac. “What your work is, they get it for free. It’s like if you went out and all the cab drivers, all the bus drivers and all the people that work in the building were doing it for free.  People put their lives and their efforts into music, so they should be compensated for that.”

Smokey Robinson

Smokey Robinson

Composer and pianist Ramsey Lewis who has never testified in Congress before wasn’t nervous at all about Advocacy Day. “No, not at all. I’m too old to get nervous,” he joked. “You know, everybody’s a human being, everybody puts their pants on one leg at a time.”  Although Lewis didn’t perform, he was adamant about being a part of the crowd that came in to see that things were done properly for everybody concerned in the music industry. “Tonight is entertainment, tomorrow is the hard work and I’m looking forward to the hard work.”

Ramsey Lewis

GRAMMY winner Ramsey Lewis

“Love King” Raheem DeVaughn is a hometown boy who graduated from High Point in PG County.  “Things have been very fruitful. It’s been ten years since I put out my first album.  I put out five albums as a solo artist, countless mixed tapes and I have a new project I’ll be dropping in this summer. It’s going to be a hip-hop soul fusion album charged with politics and life; just a different pace, a breath of fresh air, something that’s organic and conscious of power for youth and power for women and power for the world. That’s what I would kind of like to be known for.”  DeVaughn remains connected to his community here via his foundation called LoveLife which has been in existence for three years and geared toward domestic violence, feeding the homeless and providing scholarships.

GRAMMY'S

Members of Congress join the band on stage.

Kendra Foster has a unique tale to tell. She was a Senate Page in her adolescence for State Senator ‘Toni’ Jennings (R-Fla.)  “I believe it was in middle school. She was my flagship for running around. I’m from Tallahassee. I was always an artist though, although I was dragged kicking and screaming into artistry because I was brought up thinking it was impractical to do so.  You know, it’s great,” she told us, “coming around full circle and pushing for the things I believe in like this that’s empowering our industry and validating it as we do it.”

Kendra Foster

Kendra Foster

Yolanda Adams

GRAMMY-winning gospel singer Yolanda Adams sings the National Anthem

“Zac Brown Band is an excellent example of creative artists making a difference not only in music but in the world of philanthropy at large,” said Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow.  “It’s our pleasure to recognize their dedication at our 2016 GRAMMYs on the Hill event.  The Academy is please to honor Congressman Crowley and Rooney, whose sponsorship of the AMP Act and the Fair Play Fair Pay Act demonstrates their understanding and support of crucial parity issues for music professionals at a pivotal time for music legislation in Washington.”

Interviews by Janet Donovan
Filmed and Edited by Brendan Kownacki

 

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