Darlene Love Joins All-Star Tribute To Marvin Gaye For Epilepsy Awareness

(EWING, NJ) -- On Saturday, March 28th, Darlene Love will join a unique collection of musicians will gather in Ewing for a once-in-a-lifetime All-Star Tribute to Marvin Gaye as part of the ongoing non-profit epilepsy awareness series, Candlelight Concerts for Epilepsy Awareness. One of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a truly legendary singer-songwriter, Marvin Gaye has left a mark on the lives of so many with his music.  Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Darlene Love will join a group of unique singers performing all of Marvin Gaye's greatest hits including Let's Get It On, Mercy Mercy Me, Trouble Man, I Heard It Through The Grapevine and so many more.  She'll share the bill with Dawn Robinson formerly of En Vogue, Corey Glover of Living Colour, Philadelphia's Mutlu and Hopewell New Jersey's own Danielia Cotton.  

These singers will be backed by a brilliantly talented house band. Doug Wimbish of Living Colour will be serving as musical director and has assembled an all-star house band featuring Paul Pesco of Hall & Oates and Madonna acclaim. The house band also features Calvin Weston on drums, David Dzubinski on piano and Allison Polans and Imani Roach providing background vocals.  
This evening will celebrate Marvin Gaye's work, his music and help to raise awareness for something that affects as many as 1 in 26 people, epilepsy.  

Did you know that 1 in 10 people will have a seizure and 1 in 26 people will develop epilepsy in their lifetime?  Did you know that 50,000 people die each year from epilepsy – prolonged seizures, sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), and epilepsy related causes (i.e. accidental drowning)?  Most do not, which is largely the purpose behind Candlelight Concerts for Epilepsy Awareness.  This ongoing nonprofit concert series is designed to raise awareness and spread these facts about epilepsy.  The series is held in an intimate, 300 seat church setting - Trinity UMC at 1985 Pennington Road in Ewing, NJ.  Directly across from The College of New Jersey.
Seating is general admission.  Doors are at 7pm with the lobby opening at 6pm.  Tickets are available at www.CandlelightConcert.org for only $75 in advance and $80 at the door.  The Epilepsy Foundation of New Jersey will also be on hand to present some information about epilepsy, to accept donations, provide materials and answer questions should attendees be interested.

About Marvin Gaye

Brilliant, enigmatic, and headstrong, Marvin Gaye was an innovator. In 2009, he would have been 70 years old, and it has been 25 years since his tragic death. But today Marvin remains as influential and exciting as ever: Rolling Stone recently named him one of the greatest singers of all time.

He was born Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. on April 2, 1939, in Washington, D.C., where he dreamed of singing before large crowds; he joined a co-founded a local doo-wop group, the Marquees, who were spotted by Harvey Fuqua, who made them his new Moonglows. Marvin arrived in Detroit on tour with the Moonglows and stayed, as did Harvey, and Marvin was signed to Motown just based on raw singing talent. He was also a songwriter, an OK drummer-and handsome as hell. He wanted to sing jazz, to croon Tin Pan Alley standards, but that didn't pan out. Motown founder Berry Gordy encouraged Marvin to sing R&B, and once Gaye sang the soulful (and autobiographical) "Stubborn Kind Of Fellow" in 1962, stardom enveloped him. The incendiary "Hitch Hike," "Pride And Joy," and "Can I Get A Witness" sold like crazy in 1963, and Marvin oozed silky sexiness on the 1965 classics "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)," "I'll Be Doggone" and "Ain't That Peculiar."

By 1968's immortal "I Heard It Through The Grapevine," and on a series of electrifying duets with Mary Wells, Kim Weston ("It Takes Two"), and his ultimate singing partner, the ravishing but ill-fated Tammi Terrell ("Ain't No Mountain High Enough," et al), Gaye was a commercial force. He soon became recognized as an artistic one as well.

At decade's turn, Marvin seized full control of his output with the deeply personal, socially aware 1971 masterpiece What's Going On, which produced three hit singles: the title track, "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" and "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)." He defied expectations again with "Trouble Man," a 1972 hit single featured in his haunting, jazzy score of the movie of the same name. He zoomed to the top of the charts with his passionate Let's Get It On, while delivering a pop confection in Diana and Marvin, his duet album with Motown's queen, Diana Ross. I Want You, released in 1976, was another sensual masterwork, a meditation on obsessive love that was also No. 1.

Marvin's influence reaches across the generations. He was rightfully among only the second group of artists honored with induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1987. More recently, Marvin was No. 6 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time. "Motown Week" on American Idol 2009 (Season 8) featured remaining contestants singing not one but two of Marvin's songs. His records-and his ringtones and his DVDs-are still going gold.

About Darlene Love

It's no wonder the New York Times raves: "Darlene Love's thunderbolt voice is as embedded in the history of rock and roll as Eric Clapton's guitar or Bob Dylan's lyrics." Through the years, Darlene Love continues to captivate audiences worldwide with her warm, gracious stage presence and sensational performances.
Since the early sixties, as part of Phil Spector's 'wall of sound' hit factory, this great lady has done it all…from major motion pictures like the highly successful Lethal Weapon series to Broadway hits like Hairspray and Grease. She even starred as herself in Leader of The Pack, credited as Broadway's first 'jukebox musical.' Darlene has appeared on numerous television programs, running the gamut from her weekly appearances on Shindig to a recent guest spot on the PBS special entitled Women Who Rock.

An autobiographical film is currently on the drawing board and another recent film Twenty Feet from Stardom that prominently features Darlene, just landed the Academy Award this March. When Darlene went on stage to be greeted with the Oscar on behalf of all the film participants, she burst into song and won a standing ovation from the Academy audience led by the wildly applauding Bill Murray. Soon after this, it was announced by Oprah Winfrey that a film on Darlene's life was in production and will star Toni Braxton as a young Darlene Love. This is expected for early 2015. Darlene is currently working on a new CD being produced by Stevie Van Zandt. Steve wrote a special song for her, "All Alone on Christmas," which Darlene sang on screen in Home Alone 2 – a holiday TV favorite every year.

Darlene's background vocals as a lead member of The Blossoms for Tom Jones, The Righteous Brothers, Dionne Warwick, Marvin Gaye, and Elvis Presley (to name but a few) set the stage for her emergence as a star in her own right. Her Billboard hits include: "He's A Rebel," "The Boy I'm Gonna Marry," "Wait 'Til My Bobby Gets Home," "He's Sure the Boy I Love" and the #1 holiday classic "Christmas Baby Please Come Home," a song that she performs annually with Paul Shaffer and the CBS Symphony Orchestra on The Late Show With David Letterman.

In 2011, Darlene Love received her industry's highest award when Better Midler, a great fan of her work, inducted her into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. During the celebration, the two ladies enjoyed performing "He's A Rebel" together. As part of the festivities, Darlene also sang "He's A Fine, Fine Boy" backed by another distinguished fan, Bruce Springsteen.

Rolling Stone Magazine has proclaimed Darlene Love to be "one of the greatest singers of all time" and that certainly rings true, but perhaps Paul Shaffer says it even more concisely: "Darlene Love is Rock N' Roll!"