Motown Founder Berry Gordy To Get Philadelphia's 2013 Marian Anderson Award
By Molly Daly
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- This year's Marian Anderson award will be given to a music industry icon: Motown Records founder Berry Gordy.
In making the announcement today at a center city hotel, Mayor Nutter said, "Few individuals have changed the course of music history as Gordy," an iconic figure in the development of R&B music as a dominant force in popular culture.
The hit-making producer, songwriter, and impresario will receive the award in Philadelphia at a gala dinner on November 19th.
The Marian Anderson Award was created in 1998, named for the pioneering Philadelphia-born opera singer and civil rights figure. It honors artists whose leadership benefits humanity. Previous winners have included James Earl Jones, Mia Farrow, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, Elizabeth Taylor, and Richard Gere.