Diane Warren To Receive Millennium Visionary Award

08/05/1999 7:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(8/5/99, 4 p.m. PDT) - Songwriter Diane Warren will be honored with the Millennium Visionary Award for "Distinguished Achievement In Songwriting" by the American Cinema Awards Foundation and the Whitney Houston Foundation For Children, Inc. Ironically, the songwriter recently told LAUNCH that she has written a millennium anthem for Michael Jackson (LAUNCH, 6/9).

The exclusive event will take place on Aug. 16, at the New York home of producer David Gest. Also set to be honored that evening will be Michael Jackson, and humanitarians Tonja Walker Davidson, and Ed Davidson.

Throughout the evening there will be performances by several musical stars, including Trisha Yearwood, Monica, the Four Tops, jazz legend Ramsey Lewis, Edwin McCain, and others.

McCain tells LAUNCH that initially he wasn't too into enthused about recording the Warren-penned "I Could Not Ask For More," but then something clicked. "I started thinking about it," he says. "Well, Bonnie Raitt didn't write that song, 'I Can't Make You Love Me,' and Aerosmith didn't write their giant hit--Diane did. I was thinking, you know, for all these years that we've been struggling, why not take a shot and be open-minded and try something new?"

The event will benefit the Whitney Houston Foundation For Children and the Actors' Fund Of America. The evening will raise funds for abused and battered children as well as children in need, and raise money for arts-related charities and scholarships.

The American Cinema Awards Foundation was founded 15 years ago by Gest and Jackson and has raised millions of dollars for the Motion Picture And TV Fund in Los Angeles and the Actors' Fund Of America in New York. It has also established numerous scholarships at colleges and universities throughout the United States.

Features on Trisha Yearwood, Monica, Edwin McCain, and Bonnie Raitt are available on LAUNCH.com.

-- Jason Gelman, New York

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