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The Fender Music Foundation (FMF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that grants musical instruments and equipment to ongoing music education programs in the United States. Many of the grants they award go to music education in schools and organizations for under privileged or mentally disabled children, teenagers and adults.
The Fender Music Foundation, formerly The Guitar Center Music Foundation, was established in 2005 in Westlake Village, California by Larry Thomas when he retired as CEO of Guitar Center, Inc. The foundation became active in 2006, raising $765,000 [1] and awarding its first grants at the end of that year. By the end of 2007, their grants benefited over 10,000 people in 20 states. [1]
To date the foundation has awarded instruments, equipment and money to 65 organizations. [1] Some of these recipients include schools, educational centers for those who are to be released from prison, community music centers and therapeutic music programs. By March 2008, grants had been awarded to programs in 24 states. The list of programs the foundation supports is continually growing as they receive numerous grant applications every year.
Unfortunately, the Foundation is also forced to reject many of the applicants each year due to application discrepancies. Discrepancies include incorrectly completed applications, applicant programs that are not within the scope of the foundation's grants, or requests for items that GCMF does not award.
In February 2008 the foundation established a relationship with President Jimmy Carter and his organization, Carter Center. [2] The Music Foundation will be providing musical instruments and memorabilia to the Carter Center auctions in return for publicity and the Carter Center's public support of the Guitar Center Music Foundation and the importance of music in people's lives.
The Fender Music Foundation relies solely on charitable donations from the public and funds raised through the selling of music memorabilia. Memorabilia sales are made online through the foundation's own e-store and marketed through fan sites. Items such as signed posters, guitars, songbooks and records are all sold to raise money for music programs. Artist memorabilia includes artists such as The Eagles, The Black Label Society, Guns N' Roses, Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wylde, KISS, New Found Glory, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hank Williams Jr., John Mayer, James Blunt, The Beach boys, Green Day, Elvis Costello, Carrie Underwood, Def Leppard, Iggy Pop, Fiona Apple, Alice in Chains, Pantera, Jimi Hendrix and his sister Janie Hendrix. These names are just a few of the artists who support the foundation with signed memorabilia items.
In early 2008 the foundation began a relationship with Auctionwire.com. This auction-based website will enable the foundation to auction off higher end memorabilia and meet and greets with celebrities like Don Felder and Alan White.
Charity events also play a large role in the Foundation's fundraising efforts. The Fender Music Foundation has hosted a number of music benefits since its creation in 2005. In March 2006 the Music Foundation hosted "An Evening with Ray Kennedy and Friends." [3] This event hosted by the foundation featured performances by Macy Gray, The Dave Mason Band, The Syn, California Transit Authority, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, Gia Ciambotti and celebrity band 16:9 which includes House's Hugh Laurie, Alias' and Felicity's Greg Grunberg, Desperate Housewives' James Denton, The Bachelor's Bob Guiney and many special guests. The event also included a silent auction featuring signed and rare memorabilia with all of the proceeds, including ticket sales, going toward music education programs.
FMF has also hosted events with master guitarist Pepe Romero [4] and the New West Symphony.
FMF's most recent event was a benefit entitled "The Gift of Music." [5] This event featured celebrity guests, an art exhibit by Paul Thatcher, music from Koffehouse recording artists, a silent auction featuring memorabilia including a Jimi Hendrix gift basket donated by Janie Hendrix. Celebrity guests included contestants John Boone and winner Maria Hartman from VH1's The Shot , protégé drummer Tony Royster, and drummer Danny Seraphine from the band Chicago. All proceeds from this event were used to benefit music programs across the country.
Music Rising [6] was started by U2's The Edge in partnership with The Guitar Center Music Foundation and Gibson Guitars in order to raise funds to replace the lost instruments and accessories of the musicians affected by the hurricanes that devastated the Gulf Coast region in 2005. Exclusive guitars manufactured by Gibson were available exclusively through the Guitar Center Website [7] with all proceeds going towards the goals of Music Rising.
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist, songwriter and singer. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as the greatest and one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as "arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music."
The Museum of Pop Culture or MoPOP is a nonprofit museum in Seattle, Washington, United States, dedicated to contemporary popular culture. It was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2000 as the Experience Music Project. Since then MoPOP has organized dozens of exhibits, 17 of which have toured across the U.S. and internationally.
David Jon Gilmour is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett. By the early 1980s, Pink Floyd had become one of the highest-selling and most acclaimed acts in music history. Following the departure of Roger Waters in 1985, Pink Floyd continued under Gilmour's leadership and released three more studio albums.
The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously manufactured the Stratocaster since 1954. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top "horn" shape for balance. "Stratocaster" and "Strat" are trademark terms belonging to Fender. Guitars that duplicate the Stratocaster by other manufacturers are sometimes called S-Type or ST-type guitars. Many prominent rock musicians have been associated with the Stratocaster for use in studio recording and live performances, most notably Eric Clapton, Buddy Holly, David Gilmour, Mark Knopfler, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Mark Speer and George Harrison.
Guitar Center is an American musical instrument retailer chain based in Westlake Village, California. It is the largest company of its kind in the United States, with 304 locations.
Blackie is the nickname given by Eric Clapton to his favorite Fender Stratocaster.
Ernest Isley is an American musician, best known as a member of the musical ensemble The Isley Brothers, and also the splinter group Isley-Jasper-Isley.
"Voodoo Chile" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and recorded in 1968 for the third Jimi Hendrix Experience album Electric Ladyland. It is based on the Muddy Waters blues song "Rollin' Stone", but with original lyrics and music. At 15 minutes, it is Hendrix's longest studio recording and features additional musicians in what has been described as a studio jam.
National Inclusion Project is a non-profit organization, founded in 2003 by Clay Aiken and Diane Bubel, dedicated to promoting the inclusion of children with disabilities in activities with their non-disabled peers.
Brownie is the nickname for a Fender Stratocaster that was used extensively by Eric Clapton during the early 1970s, most notably with Derek and the Dominos on their 1970 album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.
The Elton John AIDS Foundation(EJAF) is a nonprofit organization, established by musician Sir Elton John in 1992 in the United States and 1993 in the United Kingdom to support innovative HIV prevention, education programs, direct care and support services to people living with or at risk of HIV. It has raised over $565 million to support HIV-related programs across ninety countries.
Music Rising is a charity co-founded by producer Bob Ezrin, U2's The Edge and a host of music industry organizations after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The charitable organization helps to restore the livelihoods of musicians affected by disasters and funds efforts that support music education.
Seymour W. Duncan is an American businessman and a co-founder of the Seymour Duncan Company, a manufacturer of guitar pickups, bass pickups, and effects pedals located in Santa Barbara, California.
Vintage Guitar is an American magazine that focuses on vintage and classic guitars, amplifiers, effects, and related equipment, as well as notable guitarists from all genres and eras. The publication's feature stories and monthly columns cover a diverse range of topics by contributors, including some of the biggest names in the industry and renowned authorities like Dan Erlewine, George Gruhn, Wolf Marshall, Richard Smith, and Seymour W. Duncan, as well as some of the best-known writers in the field, including Pete Prown, Walter Carter, Dan Forte, Dave Hunter, Rich Kienzle, Michael Dregni, John Peden, Greg Prato, and others.
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Gerald Goldstein is an American producer, singer-songwriter, talent manager, music executive, musician and entrepreneur. He was one of the members of The Strangeloves, the co-writer of "My Boyfriend's Back" and "Come on Down to My Boat", the producer and songwriter of War, and the former manager of Sly Stone. Goldstein produced a single with teenage singer, Nancy Baron in 1963 for the Diamond Record label. Goldstein was part of a three-person production team which wrote and produced numerous records which are referred to as "FGG" – Feldman, Goldstein and Gottehrer. The numerous artists and their work in collaboration with FGG are listed in a Discography included in the references below.
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Cowtown Guitars was a vintage guitar shop located in Las Vegas, Nevada, owned by husband and wife, Jesse and Roxie Amoroso. The shop was well known having one of the largest collection of vintage guitars in North America and boasted a client list of celebrities, which includes Carlos Santana and Imagine Dragons. Owner Jesse Amoroso has appeared several times as the vintage guitar expert on the History Channel's reality television series Pawn Stars. The shop closed in 2019 following a prolonged decline in other business ventures run by the Amorosos.
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