The 2013 Amy Winehouse Foundation Inspiration Awards and Gala held in NYC at the Waldorf Astoria on March 21, 2013 was a great success! The red carpeted Gala honoring Tony Bennett, SaLaAM ReMi, NAS and Elhadj “Moe” Kane was attended by celebrity guests including Sean Lennon, Mark Ronson, Danny Aiello, Harry Belafonte, Olivia Culpo, Miss Universe 2013 , Nana Meriwether, Miss USA 2013 and Robert Randolph to name a few. The sold out event hosted by John Norris, also featured performances by Jennifer Hudson, Tony Bennett and Dominic Farinacci. Read what Rolling Stone had to say about the evening:

Rolling Stone: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/amy-winehouse-gala-hoors-tony-bennett-and-nas-in-new-york-20130322

Check out some of the evening’s photos at the link below!
http://www.amywinehousefoundation.org/us/2013-awf-inspiration-awards-and-gala-photo-gallery

The Amy Winehouse Foundation Inspiration Awards & Gala was featured in many media outlets this year.  Please see the links below for more.

Rolling Stone: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/amy-winehouse-gala-hoors-tony-bennett-and-nas-in-new-york-20130322

People Magazine : http://www.people.com/people/gallery/0,,20684233,00.html#21297583

Celebrity Red Carpet: http://www.celebrityredcarpet.co.uk/article/miss-usa-nana-meriwether-and-miss-universe-olivia-culpo-honor-amy-winehouse_a3048/1

JN1 TV: http://jn1.tv/video/culture/amy-winehouse-foundation-gala-held-in-nyc.html

Just Jared: http://www.justjared.com/2013/03/22/jennifer-hudson-amy-winehouse-foundation-gala

WENN: http://www.wenn.com/all-news/stars-gather-at-inaugural-amy-winehouse-foundation-awards-gala/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wenn%2FdGjW+(W.E.N.N)

Perez Hilton: http://perezhilton.com/cocoperez/2013-03-22-jennifer-hudson-2013-amy-winehouse-foundation-inspiration-awards

The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/tony-bennett-honored-at-amy-winehouse-foundation-gala-jennifer-hudson-harry-belafonte-attend/2013/03/21/3ba514c2-92a4-11e2-9173-7f87cda73b49_story.html

National Public Radio: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=175002800

Billboard: http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1554285/tony-bennett-harry-belafonte-jennifer-hudson-attend-amy-winehouse-tribute

Boston Globe: http://www.globaltoronto.com/entertainment/tony+bennett+honoured+at+amy+winehouse+foundation+gala/6442833539/story.html

Global Toronto: http://www.globaltoronto.com/entertainment/tony+bennett+honoured+at+amy+winehouse+foundation+gala/6442833539/story.html

Minneapolis Star Tribune: http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/music/199474501.html

Charlotte Observer: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/03/21/3931732/bennett-belafonte-hudson-at-winehouse.html

San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Bennett-Belafonte-Hudson-at-Winehouse-gala-4375218.php

Yahoo News: http://news.yahoo.com/bennett-belafonte-hudson-winehouse-gala-035134645.html

Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2297345/Jennifer-Hudson-sizzles-figure-hugging-dress-Amy-Winehouse-Foundation-Inspiration-Awards-Gala.html

Mitch’s interview with Good Day New York: http://www.myfoxny.com/story/21713416/mitch-winehouse

Tickets and sponsorships are now available for the Inspiration Awards & Gala March 21st 2013!  You can click on the link below for TICKET and SPONSORSHIP information for the event.

http://www.amywinehousefoundation.org/us/tickets

The Amy Winehouse Foundation Inspiration Awards & Gala

Honoring Tony Bennett, NAS, SaLaAM ReMi and Elhadj “Moe” Kane,

To be held Thursday, March 21, 2013 in NYC

Jennifer Hudson will be a featured guest performer!

  (February 3, 2012: NYC, NY):  The Amy Winehouse Foundation (US) announced  today that the Amy Winehouse Inspiration Awards & Gala  will be held March 21, 2013 in New York City at the famed Waldorf Astoria.

Featured to perform will be Grammy Award winning artist Jennifer Hudson.  The red carpeted, black- tie cocktail and dinner event will feature more soon to be announced star studded musical guest performances as well as celebrity guests to present special honorees with an Amy Winehouse Foundation (AWF) Inspiration Award for their work in helping to inspire greatness in others.  The event, originally slated for October 2012, was moved to the new date due to transatlantic scheduling conflicts.

Among this year’s awards will be The AWF Inspiration Award for Lifetime Achievement presented to the Grammy award -winning singer and legendary entertainer Mr. Tony Bennett,   In addition to his many philanthropic endeavors as well as his impact on music history, Mr.  Bennett   was someone that Ms. Winehouse deeply admired and had the opportunity to record with before her tragic passing in July of last year.  That collaboration, “Body & Soul”, was on Mr. Bennett’s album Duets II and won the Grammy this past year for “Best Pop Duo/Group Performance”.  A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the single has gone to the Amy Winehouse Foundation in support of music programs.

The AWF Inspiration Award for a New Generation will be presented to the Emmy and Grammy Award winning artist NAS. NAS was first introduced to Amy’s music in 2004 through their respective producer SaLaAM ReMI and the two became instant friends.  “She was really inspired by him,” says ReMI, who produced the Amy/NAS collaboration “Like Smoke” from the Amy Winehouse Lioness:  Hidden Treasures album and their collaboration “Cherry Wine” from NAS’ new critically acclaimed Life is Good album.   Not only did the two share a similarity on the way they approached music but they shared the same birthday (September 14th).  “Amy was an amazing talent and a special artist. She was like a little sister to me,” says NAS, “I’m happy to be involved with a foundation that not only keeps her memory alive but helps support those things she cared most about- kids and music.”

SaLaAM ReMi, the Grammy nominated producer and Executive Vice President, A&R and Production, Sony Music Entertainment, will be presented The AWF Inspiration Award for Visionary Leadership. ReMi worked with Ms. Winehouse on all her award winning albums including Frank and Back to Black as well as co-producing the posthumously released Amy Winehouse Lioness: Hidden Treasures . His illustrious career , including his significant philanthropic work and creative vision, has significantly impacted or developed the careers of other genre defining artists including NAS, Alicia Keys and Lauryn Hill to name a few. Just this year he has been nominated for a Grammy in the prestigious Producer of the Year (non- classical) category.  Amy loved his passion and respected his genius and thought of SaLaAM as family.

Elhadj “Moe” Kane, chairman of Amon Holdings, CEO of FAM GROUP, managing director at CRC Sovereign, and general director at GCA, acting CEO at MGK capital and Vice-Chairman of GIVEECOENERGY  will receive The AWF Inspiration Award for Helping Build a Better World. Mr. Kane’s focus on renewable energy solutions to power the world on into the future as well as co-founding the humanitarian consortium FEWS (Food Electricity Water and Shelter for all) make him the perfect recipient for this award.

“These four men,” says Amy’s father Mitch Winehouse, “are extraordinarily talented individuals who have inspired greatness in others.  It is only fitting that they are among the first Amy Winehouse Foundation Honorees.”

The Amy Winehouse Inspiration Awards and Gala will be the first of what Mitch Winehouse and Janis Winehouse Collins, Amy’s father and mother, plan to be an annual event to raise awareness and resources for the Amy Winehouse Foundation in the US. All monies raised in the US, including from this event will go to US programs.

Launched in the US at Joe’s Pub in NYC on April 11, 2012, the mission of the Amy Winehouse Foundation -US is supporting and empowering children and young adults in need through music therapy and music education and works to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol misuse on young people.  The Foundation aims to support, inform and inspire vulnerable and disadvantaged young people to help them reach their full potential.  Among the US Foundation’s first missions is to assist the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO), in supporting after school music programs for children in those districts still struggling from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and to work with the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) .

The Amy Winehouse Foundation was formally established in the UK in 2011 by Amy’s family in honor of her memory and in keeping with her passion of wanting to help children in need.  To date, the UK Foundation has allocated over £500,000 to various organizations.

Corporate Sponsorships and Special Table seating is available for the March 21, 2013 Amy Winehouse Foundation Gala and Inspiration Awards at $10,000, $25,000 and $50,000.  Special Program Advertising is also available.

For more information about the AWF (US) or to purchase tables and sponsorships please visit www.amywinehousefoundation.org/us  or email usainfo@amywinehousefoundation.org

Gala Coordinator: Catherine Saxton, the Saxton Group.

Contact Dan Malkin, 212-672-0509 or dmalkin@saxtongroupltd.com

Press/Media  Contact for The AWF-US and Mitch Winehouse: Tracey Miller, TMA, Inc., 609-383-2323, ext.11 or tracey@tmapublicity.com

We would like to thank our sponsors Adot

The Amy Winehouse Foundation has awarded $25,000 to the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music to finance scholarships for teenage jazz musicians. The parents of Amy Winehouse, Janis and Mitch Winehouse, attended a short ceremony at the nonprofit conservatory in Park Slope on Wednesday morning to hand over a giant facsimile of a check to Karen Geer, the executive director.

The money will go to defray the expenses of needy children accepted into the academy’s Teen Jazz Program, said Arlene Kriv, a spokeswoman for the conservatory. About half of the 43 students who study jazz in the Saturday program receive scholarships. (The full tuition is $2,500 for seven and a half months.)

The foundation was set up in Ms. Winehouse’s name by her family after she died of alcohol poisoning at her London apartment in July 2011, cutting short a brilliant career as a singer and songwriter. Its mission is to support music education programs for impoverished children and to finance drug-rehabilitation centers for addicts. Ms. Winehouse, whose retro-soul singing style and rough-edge lyrics attracted critical acclaim and earned her several Grammy Awards, had struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction for years before she died at the age of 27.
(From the New York Times)

The Amy Winehouse Foundation US is delighted to announce that it will be honouring Nas, Tony Bennett, Salaam Remi and Elhadj “Moe” Kane at the inaugural Amy Winehouse Inspiration Awards & Gala.

The event takes place at the Waldorf Astoria, New York City on March 21 2013.

Nas said: “Amy was an amazing talent and a special artist. She was like a little sister to me. I’m happy to be involved with a foundation that not only keeps her memory alive but helps support those things she cared most about- kids and music.”

Information about the event will be posted here in the coming months.

August 10th
Southampton, Amy Winehouse Foundation Awareness Campaign
attended by Mitch Winehouse, Janis Winehouse
hosted by the Boards of Directors AWF U.S.
at the summer home of David Hryck, GC, AWF Us.

October 11th
Amy Winehouse Foundation Inspiration Awards
Honorees:  Tony Bennett, Salaam Remi
Venue:  Waldorf Astoria, Park Avenue @ 50th, NYC, NY
Time:  6-10pm

Live and Online Auction hosted by Charity Buzz

Contact: Saxton Group for ticket information and donations
dmalkin@saxtongroupltd.com +212-672-0509

Star Group Refining, the premier dental and jewelry refiner in the United States and across Europe, recently donated $5,000 to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. This growing organization was set up last year to support charitable activities that provide help and support for young people who are suffering from addiction, ill health and disability.

Accepting the check on behalf of the Amy Winehouse Foundation was Paul Sassiene—a successful British comedy writer and ghostwriter of the recently released best-selling book, Amy, My Daughter (by Mitch Winehouse).  Paul was recently a keynote speaker at the Star Group Refining Annual Conference in Las Vegas.  In response to accepting Star’s $5,000 check, Paul stated, “On behalf of the AWF, thank you so much for your generous donation…the money is going to be spent in the US helping children in the South.”

Star Group Refining is proud to be associated with the Amy Winehouse Foundation, and will continue supporting this charitable organization.

US Book Launch “Amy, My Daughter” by Mitch Winehouse, published by Harper Collins.
All proceeds will benefit the Amy Winehouse Foundation, U.S.A.

Please support our first U.S. grantee by attending the performance of Irvin Mayfield, Artistic Director and the entire New Orleans Jazz Orchestra.

The Amy Winehouse Foundation in the US is joining hands with the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO) to help fulfill Amy’s wish to help preserve Jazz culture in New Orleans and empower children through music education. The AWF-US announced its first pledge of $10,000 to NOJO last month at the Foundation’s US launch in NYC.

AWF Chairman and CEO Mitch Winehouse will be in town to present the check to Artistic Director Irvin Mayfield, meet with the NOJO executive team and tour the NOJO offices. “Amy loved New Orleans, she loved jazz music and one of the things she talked about doing was to help preserve the culture,” says Mitch Winehouse, Amy’s father. “In her memory, through the (Amy Winehouse) Foundation we plan to do just that.”