Smokey Robinson, Ken Sunshine Set for Lifetime Achievement Awards

Overlook Halloween, Reverend Al Sharpton has different plans for tonight.

The founder and president of the Nationwide Motion Community is throwing a star-studded 70th celebration tonight in Century Metropolis, however as a substitute of specializing in his milestone birthday, Sharpton and his crew have centered on the honorees (Smokey Robinson and Ken Sunshine) and a trigger (urging extra individuals to get out and vote in Tuesday's election).

Held on the Fairmont Century Plaza, the occasion will see lifetime achievement awards offered to Robinson, a music legend who was the founder and chief of Motown's pioneering vocal group The Miracles, and Sunshine, a veteran public relations government. , strategist and political activist. . Sunshine, who was concerned in politics early in his profession, based Ken Sunshine Consultants earlier than partnering with Shawn Sachs to launch the agency Sunshine Sachs, now often called Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis.

Each can be current together with a listing of boldface names resembling Magic and Cookie Johnson, Robert F. Smith, Anthony Anderson, Cedric the Entertainer, Fabian Núñez, Antonio Villaraigosa, Sylvia Rhone and others. The fundraising will assist NAN's non-partisan Get Out the Vote marketing campaign, which seeks to activate the group's greater than 100 chapters on the significance of standing for election.

“I’m honored to hitch a gaggle of non-public pals who’ve lengthy supported NAN as we rejoice my 70th birthday this month,” Sharpton mentioned. “After a robust efficiency on the Triumph Awards in New York Metropolis final week, I do know this occasion will assist NAN's future work to tell Black voters throughout the nation what’s in danger once they keep residence and what’s potential once they go to the polls. “I particularly need to thank Magic Johnson and Robert F. Smith for organizing this occasion, as they’ve labored with us for many years to increase enterprise alternatives for Black and Brown People.”

As Sharpton talked about, the Los Angeles occasion follows the same occasion on the East Coast the place Gladys Knight, Robert De Niro, Wynton Marsalis and Carolyn “Cookie” Mason had been honored. In New York, Sharpton, whose precise birthday was October three, additionally spoke of the affect of the Triumph Awards from the rostrum.