***75th Birthday Celebration Honoring
Bill Pinkney
Tuesday, August 15, 2000
Jubilee Roast Eleganza
and Legends Concert
Event
Photographs - Coming soon
Press Release
COLUMBIA, SC
Hundreds
of colleagues, friends, family members, and music
fans
turned out at the Sheraton Hotel to help singer Bill Pinkney
celebrate
his 75th birthday at a formal banquet and a concert with
many
of America's top rhythm and blues and beach music stars.
Friends
flew in from as far away as Germany to attend the event.
Alan
Freed Foundation president Tony Belmont brought personal
greetings
from President Clinton. Representatives from the Rock
and
Roll Hall of Fame, Hallelujah Productions, Cammy Awards,
and
others "roasted" Pinkney, while Harvey Fuqua gave a prayer..
Las
Vegan Maxine Porter, event director, presented the honoree
with
“Bill Pinkney Day” proclamations from South Carolina - his
home
state and Nevada - his second home state, and left him
speechless
with a replica 45 year overdue Gold Record for his
bass
lead on The Drifters' 1954 rendition of Irving Berlin's classic
“White
Christmas”.
Pinkney,
the sole surviving 1953 original member of The Drifters
and
South Carolina’s "Ambassador of Entertainment", was
honored
as a National Treasure for his participation as a pitcher
in
the Negro National Baseball League and as a World War II
Presidential
Citation recipient with four Bronze Stars (Normandy,
Saint-Lo,
Rhine River, and Bastone). After the war, he sang
gospel
music and spent several years playing for the New York
Blue
Sox.
Pinkney
was honored also as an "Entertainment Industry Living
Legend".
He has toured continuously since 1953 keeping the
sounds
of the fifties alive. He is a member of the Rock and Roll
Hall
of Fame, Vocal Group Hall of Fame, Beach Music Hall of
Fame,
North and South Carolina Halls of Fame, and a Rhythm
&
Blues Foundation Pioneer Awardee. The Rock Hall has
filmed
his oral history for archival inclusion in The Legends Series.
"If
it wasn't for Bill Pinkney and the Drifters, there wouldn't be
beach
music", Billy Scott, Cammy Awards President, said (the
Cammys
are given annually to beach music artists). "He is a
remarkable
man. He's 75 and still puts on a good show. He's
one
of my icons." He has been putting on a "good show" for
nearly
half a century.
"If
I never live to see another birthday," said Pinkney reflecting
on
Experience the Evening, "I know I have been blessed."
While
his accomplishments on the battlefield, baseball diamond
and
in the music business are legendary, it is Pinkney's heart
that
makes him special. "I remember a few years ago we had
a
person die and we needed someone to sing at the funeral,"
said
one lady. "I thought, 'Who better to sing than Bill Pinkney?'
I
left a message on his answering machine, and less than two
hours
later he called me from Los Angeles to say that he would
be
there. He left his group in Los Angeles and flew to Sumter at
his
own expense to sing. That's the kind of person he is."
Many
people expressed love for Pinkney and his kind-hearted
nature.
And it was his heart that made him an avid supporter
of
the Tuomey Foundation Heart Fund. "A couple of years ago,
I
was hospitalized at Tuomey Hospital with double pneumonia,"
Pinkney
said. "I had heart failure, but the doctors at Tuomey
were
able to save me." The fund will benefit from partial proceeds
from
the year 2000 Bill Pinkney Jubilee Committee events.
Judging
from Pinkney's performance at the concert, the Tuomey
doctors
did a great job. He wowed the crowd with a performance
that
would put men one third his age to shame.
Pinkney
then declared that "We are going to have some church
up
in here" and was joined onstage by Tommy Ellison and the
Five
Singing Stars for several rousing gospel favorites.
The
performance was topped off with Pinkney being joined on
stage
by fellow rhythm and blues and beach music stars –The
Dixie
Cups, Danny and the Juniors, Legendary Orioles, Harvey
Fuqua
of The Moonglows, DeeDee Kenniebrew of The Crystals,
Gloria
Jones formerly of Doris’ Jackson’s Shirelles, the Doo Wop
All
Stars, and many more – singing “America the Beautiful” and
“The
Battle Hymn of the Republic”.
A devout
Christian, Pinkney said "People ask 'How can you be a
Christian
and perform in nightclubs?' I tell them that if you are a
true
Christian when you walk into a nightclub, you will be one when
you
walk out. Gospel music is part of my show everywhere. When
I
I
sing in a nightclub and sing, hopefully I will lead them to Christ."
Making
light of his age, Pinkney said he was not ready to retire.
"People
ask me when I am going to retire," said Pinkney while
celebrating
three-quarters of a century. "I tell them that in twenty
years,
I might think about it." When and if he does retire, the music
industry
will lose one of its brightest stars.
Nate Abraham Jr. contributed to this story.
For
information or press photographs call Mr. Pinkney’s office at
702-642-2300.
The Bill Pinkney
Jubilee Committee consists of volunteer professionals.
This event
was funded in part by Insurall Casualty Group and Midpoint
Automobile
Dealerships. Please contact us for additional information.
Bill
Pinkney Jubilee Committee, c/o Superstars Unlimited
P. O. Box 371371, Las Vegas, NV 89137-1371
Telephone 702-642-2300 Maxfax 702-642-3221
Send e-mail to DriftersOriginal@aol.com
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