(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — MIDEM will honour Live Aid founders and Live 8 co-producers Sir Bob Geldof, Harvey Goldsmith CBE and John Kennedy OBE on January 23 in Cannes, France. The trio will receive the MIDEM Personality of the Year Award in recognition of their outstanding work in bringing the music industry together to help alleviate poverty and famine in Africa.
This will be the first time in its 17-year history, that the MIDEM Personality of the Year Award has gone to more than one person. MIDEM, which celebrates its 40 anniversary in 2006, will take place on January 22-26.
"The Live Aid and Live 8 concerts were astonishing events and a testimony to the music industry's ability to transcend pure entertainment and mobilize people on a global scale," says Reed MIDEM Chief Executive Officer Paul Zilk. "The money raised in 1985 by Live Aid and the huge political impact of Live 8, are a tribute to the efforts of these three outstanding men. It is a pleasure to honor them as MIDEM 2006 Personalities of the Year."
"What was truly impressive about Live 8 was that for the first time ever music and technology were used to communicate a humanitarian cause to the largest audience possible and carry the fight against poverty message across the globe," adds MIDEM director, Dominique Leguern.
In 1985, Harvey Goldsmith and John Kennedy teamed up with Bob Geldof ,who received a Knighthood the following year, to organize the Live Aid concert, which raised over $140 million in support of famine relief in Africa. The trio joined forces again to co-produce Live 8, a series of 10 simultaneous concerts around the world, which took place on July 2 and which were watched by a global audience of some three billion viewers.
The MIDEM Personality of the Year Award was created in 1989 to pay tribute to exceptional careers and contributions to the international music industry. Previous recipients include Nesuhi Ertegun, Quincy Jones, Jan Timmer, Jean-Loup Tournier, Clive Davis, Ahmet Ertegun, Frances Preston, David Foster, William H. Roedy and Bruce Lundvall. –Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen
