Jordan Sparks, Loretta Devine, A’ngela Winbush, Meli’sa Morgan, YoYo, Alyson Williams join Sheryl Lee Ralph to Celebrate 25 years of HIV/AIDS Awareness at DIVAS Simply Singing! Benefit Concert
Hollywood, CA – Sheryl Lee Sheryl Lee’s DIVAS Simply Singing! Celebrates 25 years of HIV/AIDS Awareness.
Join the Divinely Inspired Victoriously Aware DIVA, actor/activist Sheryl Lee Ralph on Saturday, October 24, 2015 at 7PM as she brings her renowned DIVAS Simply Singing! Benefit concert to the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre in Hollywood. DIVAS Simply Singing! is the longest consecutive running musical HIV/AIDS benefit in the country, hitting its 25th anniversary milestone this year. The show will feature performances by some of the most talented DIVAS in entertainment, including Loretta Devine (The Carmichael Show), Jennifer Lewis (Blackish), A’ngela Winbush, Meli’sa Morgan, rapper YoYo, Alyson Williams, the Supreme Mary Wilson, Freda Payne and more. The event will feature on-site testing and testimonies of those who are impacted by HIV/AIDS. Additionally, organizations that provide services and support will distribute important resource information about prevention and treatment.
“As Founding Director of The D.I.V.A. FOUNDATION, I believe in the transformational power of the arts and education. Over the past 25 years they have helped me spread the message about the importance of erasing stigma and raising HIV/AIDS awareness. The DIVAS and I have simply dared to care over the years as we inform our audiences about this disease and its impact on those who are infected and affected,” said Sheryl Lee. “In response to the numerous requests and demands of those on the east coast, The D.I.V.A. Foundation and I were very excited to kick off our 25th year celebration in Philadelphia at The Dell Music amphitheater with an audience of 5 thousand. We continue to serve as a loving beacon of hope, education and enlightenment.”
For 25 consecutive years, Sheryl Lee and her friends Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan, Nancy Wilson, Stacey Ferguson, Rayven Symone, Faith Evans, Kelly Price, Jennifer Hudson, Debbie Allen, Mary Wilson, Whoopi Goldberg, Brenda Russell, Melissa Manchester, Sharon Stone just to name a few, have come together to raise their voices in song and commitment to HIV/AIDS awareness and erase stigma. Sheryl Lee, who can currently be seen in TV Land’s series Instant Mom with Tia Mowry and on Showtime’s Ray Donovan, is an acclaimed show business “pro” whose award winning body of work in film, television and the Broadway stage includes originating and creating the role of Deena Jones on Broadway in the landmark musical Dreamgirls, which earned her a Tony Award Nomination and a Drama Desk Award Nomination for Best Actress.
This time on Broadway proved to be the best of times for Sheryl Lee – and also the worst of times. An epidemic was on the rise during that time that would soon change her world forever. In 1990, Sheryl Lee established The D.I.V.A. Foundation 501(c)3 and created DIVAS Simply Singing! as a loving memorial to the many friends she had lost to AIDS as an original company member of Dreamgirls on Broadway. She continues to use her voice to simply speak up and remember those who died in silence under stigma and shame.
Tickets for DIVAS Simply Singing can be purchased at http://goo.gl/SGknB4 or at The Montlalbán in Hollywood Box Office.