Photo ID left to right: Randy Owen, Brad Paisley, Jeff Cook, Charlie Daniels, Teddy Gentry (Photo credit: Jason Davis/Getty Images for the T.J. Martell Foundation)
Nashville, Tenn. (February 26, 2019) —Last night, legendary country music group ALABAMA was awarded the Tony Martell Lifetime Entertainment Achievement Award at the T.J. Martell Foundation’s 11th Annual Nashville Honors Gala.
Brad Paisley was on-hand to pay tribute to Jeff Cook, Teddy Gentry and Randy Owen, performing a medley of some of their hit songs, including “My Home’s in Alabama,” “Dixieland Delight,” and “Mountain Music.” Charlie Daniels followed, taking the stage to present the band with the esteemed honor.
“We have been fortunate to have won over 280 industry awards in our 50 years of recording and touring, but the Tony Martell Lifetime Entertainment Achievement Award may be the most special award we have ever gotten,” says Owen. “Anything we as a group can do to help find a cure for cancer is very important to me, Teddy and Jeff. We appreciate the Nashville music industry, Brad Paisley and Charlie Daniels for making our night extra special.”
Monday night’s event, held at the Omni Hotel in Nashville, raised nearly half a million dollars for the T.J. Martell Foundation. Additional honorees included Kings of Leon, Sally Williams, Dr. Kathryn Edwards and Sylvia and Al Ganier.
The Nashville Honors Gala is one of the T.J. Martell Foundation’s premier events that pays tribute to outstanding community leaders and presents special musical performances with heartwarming presentations that celebrate the evening’s honorees. In addition to the performances, there was a live and silent auction with proceeds benefitting cancer research.
About ALABAMA
It’s been 50 years since Jeff Cook, Teddy Gentry and Randy Owen left the cotton farms of Fort Payne, Alabama to spend the summer playing music in a Myrtle Beach, South Carolina bar called The Bowery. It’s a classic American tale of rags to riches. From humble beginnings picking cotton in the fields, to international stars that went on to sell 80 million albums, while changing the face and sound of country music. Quality songs that have become the soundtrack for American life are the foundation for ALABAMA’s stellar career. The group introduced rock style guitars, lights, pyrotechnics and sounds to the country audience that has inspired many of today’s brightest country stars including Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan. While their music continues to stand the test of time, their numbers and stats are beyond compare. Almost five decades since starting the band, ALABAMA has charted 43 #1 singles, including 21 #1 singles in a row, and have won dozens of CMA, GRAMMY®, and ACM Awards. They are members of the Country Music Hall of Fame and have their own star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In addition, they are world-class philanthropists who have raised millions of dollars for various charities. ALABAMA is currently on the road celebrating five decades of music on their historic “50th Anniversary Tour.”
For more information on ALABAMA, visit thealabamaband.com or follow the band on social media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
About the T.J. Martell Foundation
The T.J. Martell Foundation is the music industry’s leading foundation that funds innovative medical research focused on finding treatments and cures for cancer. The Foundation was founded in 1975 by music industry executive Tony Martell and his colleagues in loving memory of his son T.J., who died of leukemia. The Foundation has provided more than $280 million for research at flagship hospitals in the United States. For more information, please visit tjmartell.org.
The T.J. Martell Foundation will once again bring together the most elegant of food and wine with the brightest country music stars as they host the 18th annual Nashville Best Cellars Dinner on Monday, April 24 at the Omni Hotel. The event is presented by Secure Air, a private air charter company in Nashville, with other sponsors including Pandora and Morgan Stanley. Co-Chairmen for the dinner this year include Rob Beckham (Co-Head, WME Nashville) John Esposito (Chairman & CEO, Warner Music Nashville) and Eliza Kraft Olander.
