City of Hope and
RWQuarantunes raised north of $780k with their virtual gathering for the 16th Annual Songs of Hope on 9/30. Honorees included
Smokey Robinson,
Clive Davis,
Brandi Carlile,
Gracie Abrams and
Blake Slatkin, highly decorated film/TV/game composer
Hildur Guðnadóttir, writer/producer
Daniel Nigro, the late, great
Pop Smoke and physician
Loretta Erhunmwunsee.
The
Facebook-presented Zoom party was dotted with performances by the likes of
Duran Duran,
Jac Ross and
Rob Thomas and featured such familiar faces as
Jimmy Jam,
Benny Blanco,
Diane Warren,
Carole Bayer Sager,
Jennifer Holiday,
Aloe Blacc,
The-Dream and many more.
Sponsors included Davis,
UMPG,
Sony Music Publishing,
Warner Chappell Music and
EA Music. Also contributing mightily were premium sponsors
ASCAP,
Bruce Resnikoff,
Barbara and
Zach Horowitz,
Jody and
Gary Marsh,
Hipgnosis,
Mark and
Ana Maria Gordon, and
YouTube Music, among others.
Clive Davis presented Robinson with the Legend in Songwriting Award before the event co-chairs (including UMPG’s
Evan Lamberg and
The Davis Firm’s
Doug Davis) bestowed upon Clive the inaugural Songs of Hope Heroes Award. An emotional
Ryan Press of W/C, meanwhile, presented the Voice of Hope award posthumously to Pop Smoke. Youngsters Abrams and Slatkin got the Songwriter Impact Award (presented by Blanco); Nigro took the Sony Music Publishing Creative Trailblazer Award (courtesy of SMP’s
Nick Bral and
Jennifer Knoepfle); and Guðnadóttir was handed the EA Music Composer of the Year trophy by EA Music chief and event co-chair
Steve Schnur.
Erhunmwunsee, assistant professor in the Division of Thoracic Surgery at City of Hope, received the
Beverly and
Ben Horowitz Legacy Award, named for the longtime CEO and first lady of City of Hope, for her work in addressing systemic inequalities in the health-care system via COH’s Division of Health Equities.
RWQuarantunes founders
Richard and Demi Weitz proved amiable hosts along with emcee Jimmy Jam. Many, many people had to be yelled at to unmute themselves—but not us, because nobody wanted to hear a peep from us losers.
Photos (Top row): Clive Davis and Evan Lamberg; Smokey Robinson; Demi and Richard Weitz; Jimmy Jam; (middle row): Ryan Press; Steve Schnur, Nick Bral and Jennifer Knoepfle; Carole Bayer Sager; Rob Thomas; Ja Ross; Blake Slatkin and Gracie Abrams; Daniel Nigro and Caroline Polachek; (bottom row) Jody Gerson, Benny Blanco, Hildur Guðnadóttir; Loretta Erhunmwunsee; Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon. 
