Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. is an American singer, pianist, composer, actor, and television host. He has sold over 28 million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with 16 million in certified sales. He has had seven top 20 US albums, and ten number-one US jazz albums, earning more number-one albums than any other artist in US jazz chart history.
504 Boyz were an American hip hop group from New Orleans, Louisiana named for the New Orleans area code.
The disaster recovery response to Hurricane Katrina included federal government agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the United States Coast Guard (USCG), state and local-level agencies, federal and National Guard soldiers, non-governmental organizations, charities, and private individuals. Tens of thousands of volunteers and troops responded or were deployed to the disaster; most in the affected area but also throughout the U.S. at shelters set up in at least 19 states.
A Concert for Hurricane Relief is an hour-long, celebrity-driven benefit concert broadcast live on September 2, 2005. Sponsored by the NBC Universal Television Group, its purpose was to raise money, relief, and awareness in response to the loss of life and human suffering that resulted from Hurricane Katrina in five southeastern states in the United States in 2005. Hosted by Matt Lauer, it was simulcast from the New York studios of NBC located in 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City, on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, and i: Independent Television. Controversy was sparked during Kanye West's segment of the show after he said "George Bush doesn't care about black people."
The reconstruction of New Orleans refers to the rebuilding process endured by the city of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of the city on August 29, 2005. The storm caused levees to fail, releasing tens of billions of gallons of water. The levee failure contributed to extensive flooding in the New Orleans area and surrounding parishes. About 80% of all structures in Orleans Parish sustained water damage. Over 204,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, and more than 800,000 citizens displaced—the greatest displacement in the United States since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Wind damage was less severe than predicted. The damage that took place that needed to be repaired cost about $125 billion.
From the Big Apple to the Big Easy were New York City's benefit concerts for the Gulf Coast. They were a collaborative effort between Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall, these venues being approximately 1 mi (1.6 km) apart. The purpose was to raise funds for the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. The Big Easy is a nickname for New Orleans and the Big Apple is a nickname for New York City.
Irma Thomas is an American singer from New Orleans. She is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans".
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is a brass band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The ensemble was established in 1977, by Benny Jones and members of the Tornado Brass Band. The Dirty Dozen revolutionized the New Orleans brass band style by incorporating funk and bebop into the traditional New Orleans jazz style, and since has been a major influence on local music.
"Louisiana 1927" is a 1974 song written and recorded by Randy Newman on the album Good Old Boys. It tells the story of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 which left 700,000 people homeless in Louisiana and Mississippi.
"S.S.T." is a song by American musician Prince which was recorded and released directly after the impact of 2005's Hurricane Katrina. It was officially released as a digital download by the NPG Music Club on September 3, 2005, and reached number one on the iTunes R&B chart. It was later made available as a CD single through commercial outlets. All proceeds from the recording went to hurricane relief.
MusiCares Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 1989 and incorporated in 1993 by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Meant for musicians to have a place to turn in times of financial, personal, or medical crisis, its primary purpose is to focus the resources and attention of the music industry on human service issues which directly impact the health and welfare of the music community. The foundation's programs include emergency financial assistance, addiction recovery, outreach and leadership activities, and senior housing. MusiCares also offers hearing clinics backstage at several major festivals around the U.S. to help musicians protect their ears. Since 1989, MusiCares has distributed more than $48 million to artists in need.
Hurricane Relief: Come Together Now is a 2005 two-disc compilation album. RIAA will donate 100% of its net proceeds from the sale of this CD in equal parts to the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity and MusiCares Hurricane Relief 2005.
Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert [LIVE] is an album with 77 minutes of highlights, from the roughly five-hour long Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert that took place in the Rose Hall Theatre at Jazz at Lincoln Center on September 17, 2005.
Musicians' Village is a neighborhood located in the Upper Ninth Ward in New Orleans, Louisiana. Musicians Harry Connick, Jr. and Branford Marsalis teamed up with Habitat for Humanity International and New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity to create the village for New Orleans musicians who lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina.
The Recording Academy is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy Awards, which recognize achievements in the music industry of songs and music which are popular worldwide. The Recording Academy is a founding partner of the Grammy Museum, a non-profit organization whose stated mission is preserving and educating about music history and significance. The Recording Academy also founded MusiCares, a charity that states it serves to impact the health and welfare of the music community. The Recording Academy’s Advocacy team lobbies for music creators’ rights at the local, state, and federal levels.
Troy Andrews, also known by the stage name Trombone Shorty, is an American musician, producer, actor and philanthropist from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is best known as a trombone and trumpet player but also plays drums, organ, and tuba. He has worked with some of the biggest names in rock, pop, jazz, funk, and hip hop. Andrews is the younger brother of trumpeter and bandleader James Andrews III and the grandson of singer and songwriter Jessie Hill. Andrews began playing trombone at age four, and since 2009 has toured with his own band, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue.
Neil R. Portnow is an American music industry executive who served as the chairman and CEO of The Recording Academy and MusiCares from 2002 to 2019. Prior to that, Portnow was the vice-president of the West Coast division of Jive Records and Arista Records.
The MusiCares Person of the Year is an award presented annually by MusiCares, the charity arm of The Recording Academy, the same organization that distributes the Grammy Awards, to commend musicians for their artistic achievement in the music industry and dedication to philanthropy. The award's name reflects the non-profit health care organization known as MusiCares, established by the academy "to provide health and medical assistance to needy musicians". Chosen by the MusiCares Foundation, award recipients are honored during "Grammy week" with an "all-star" tribute concert that helps to raise money for the foundation.
The MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund was established in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide relief to music industry professionals that lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic. It was started when both MusiCares and The Recording Academy donated $1 million. By one month later, in April 2020, funds had been depleted. MusiCares received further donations from Amazon Music, Facebook, Sirius XM, Pandora Radio, Tidal, Spotify, and YouTube Music.
Make It Funky! is a 2005 American documentary film directed, written and co-produced by Michael Murphy. Subtitled in the original version as "It all began in New Orleans", the film presents a history of New Orleans music and its influence on rhythm and blues, rock and roll, funk and jazz. The film was scheduled for theatrical release in September 2005, but was pulled by distributor Sony Pictures Releasing so that they did not appear to take commercial advantage of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.
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