Jackson Browne receives Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award at World Hunger Year Gala



World Hunger Year (WHY) honored those who have made a difference in the fight against hunger and poverty at a special ceremony held in New York on June 11, 2007. The event, attended by more than 400 people from the political, business, entertainment and non-profit worlds, lauded musician Jackson Browne, who received the ASCAP Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award, as well as Hard Rock International, Jon Landau Management and the Lower East Side Girls Club. The evening also recognized the recipients of the annual Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Awards, which are presented to innovative grassroots organizations. The evening ended with a rendition of founder Harry Chapin's "Circle," with Browne and surprise guest Bruce Springsteen joining host Tom Chapin and musician-activist Jen Chapin onstage. The event raised $412,198 for WHY's programs.

With classic albums and songs, ASCAP member Jackson Browne has defined a genre of songwriting that is charged with honesty, emotion and politics, personal and public ("Doctor, My Eyes," "Take It Easy," "These Days," "Lawyers in Love"). Browne was selected to receive the ASCAP Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award because, in the tradition of Harry Chapin, he leverages his music and celebrity for calls to action for a multitude of issues and causes. Along with Bonnie Raitt, Graham Nash, and John Hall, Browne organized and participated in an historic all-star concert series benefit for MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy) and served on the MUSE Foundation Board, helping edit and compile a best-selling three-LP live album from those shows — No Nukes/The MUSE Concerts for a Non-Nuclear Future. On WHY's behalf, Jackson partnered with Graham Nash, David Crosby and James Taylor on a four-hour segment of Hungerthon called "Children of the Americas" to benefit WHY and the US Committee for UNICEF. Many of Browne's songs over the past decade have been songs that speak to America's responsibility to pursue peace and justice, including "Lives in the Balance" and "I Am a Patriot." Browne, a past recipient of the ASCAP Founders Award, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 7.

Past recipients of the ASCAP Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award include Harry Belafonte, Judy Collins, Emmylou Harris, Darryl 'DMC' McDaniels, Michael McDonald Peter, Paul & Mary, Kenny Rogers and Barbra Streisand.

For more information about WHY, visit their website at www.worldhungeryear.org.


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