Sheryl Lee Ralph’s 19th Annual Divas Simply Singing! | Oct. 19th, 2009

Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph PROUDLY ANNOUNCES MEGA-WATT LINEUP

LOS ANGELES — One diva. One song. One night to touch a million lives. And certainly, two multiple Grammy

award-winning divas, singing on behalf of HIV/AIDS awareness is better than one! Actress/activist Sheryl Lee Ralph is happy to announce the all-star, mega-watt line up for the 19th annual Divas Simply Singing! AIDS benefit concert:Yolanda Adams, Brenda Russell, Jenifer Lewis, Yo Yo, Barbara Morrison, Frenchie Davis, and Neo Soul Artist N’dambi along with original Dreamgirls Loretta Devine and Ralph herself will light up the stage!. Sam Harris will be the resident divo, paying tribute to the ladies. The pre-show will be hosted by Emmy-nominated comedienne/actress Niecy Nash.

Created and produced by Ralph, Divas Simply Singing! is an annual benefit concert, produced in conjunction with The Diva( Divinely Inspired Victoriously Anointed) Foundation to help to raise money and awareness about HIV/AIDS. Divas Simply Singing! is the longest consecutive running AIDS benefit concert in Los Angeles and has raised millons of dollars to help and assist AIDS organizations in Los Angeles and around the world. This amazing evening of song and entertainment spotlights the talents of divas from all walks of show business.

Divas Simply Singing! will be held on Saturday, October 10, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. at the Saban Theatre (formerly Wilshire Theatre), located at 8440 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills. Tickets prices range from $25 to $250. For ticket information, contact the box office of the Saban Theatre Beverly Hills at 323.655.0111.

The event is sponsored by fashion designer Tadashi Shoji; Aetna; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Diageo and American Hi-Definition, ATK, Sweetwater Productions. American Airlines; Damone Roberts “the Eyebrow King” and “Glam God” to the divas. The afterparty sponsored by KCAA radio personality Wendell James of “Talking With Wendell.” And Media sponsor KJLH-FM..

“It’s one of the best events in town, where music raises the roof, the applause pours out like love and the tears flow like redemption.” – Daryl H. Miller, LA Times 

With a unique blend of song, entertainment and empowerment, this oft-praised and highly-anticipated event continues to attract some of the most talented women in show business, uniting in song against HIV/AIDS. Talents such as Chaka Khan, Oleta Addams, Melissa Manchester, Dianne Reeves, Roberta Flack, Eartha Kitt, Stephanie Mills, Fergie, Loretta Devine, Jennifer Holiday, Miss Nancy Wilson and many others have raised their voices in song and support of Divas Simply Singing!

This year, Divas Simply Singing! is thrilled to benefit AIDS Healthcare Foundation and Women Alive Coalition. In the past, proceeds from the concert have benefited Project Angel Food, Caring for Babies With AIDS, Minority AIDS Project, the Safe Place for Pediatric AIDS, the National Minority Council, and the Black AIDS Institute.

The Diva Foundation is a national not-for-profit 501(3) charitable organization founded by Sheryl Lee Ralph in 1990 as a memorial to the many friends she lost to HIV/AIDS while in the original Broadway company of DreamGirls.. The organization focuses on generating resources and coordinating activities to create awareness of and combat against HIV/AIDS. The Diva Foundation utilizes music and entertainment as a vehicle to inform, educate and erase the stigma still attached to this disease. In 2005, Sheryl Lee Ralph and the DIVA Foundation received the first Red Ribbon Leadership Award at the United Nations on World AIDS Day for the unique use of the arts in fighting HIV/AIDS.

It’s difficult to remember a time when people died in numbers to great to imagine and families turned their backs on loved ones dying in silence, stigma and shame. It’s hard to remember that people didn’t talk about AIDS in America but Sheryl Lee Ralph has never forgotten. That is why she created the DIVA (Divinely Inspired Victoriously Anointed) Foundation. Her dedicated commitment has led to the 19th Annual Divas Simply Singing! And her critically acclaimed one-woman show, “Sometimes I Cry,” a production written and performed by Ralph, which explores the lives of women infected and affected by HIV/AIDS and continues to tour the world.

“If was fortunate for the country – and world – that two years ago Ralph became sufficiently outraged over the silence about HIV/AIDS and how it kills too many people, too many women, to many black Americans.  Not only did she find her voice when writing Sometimes I Cry.  She found her calling.” – Mary Martin Niepold, Winston-Salem Journal 

With continued success on stage, screen, television and music along with her philanthropic endeavors, Sheryl Lee Ralph has never been one to rest on her laurels. A triple threat dreamgirl, Ralph is an acclaimed veteran of film, television and the Broadway stage. Her award-winning work includes creating the role of Deena Jones in the legendary Broadway musical, “Dreamgirls,” which earned her Best Actress nods for Tony and Drama Desk Awards. She returned to Broadway for a 12-month stint in the Tony-award winning musical, “Thoroughly Modern Millie,’ creating the role of sassy chanteuse Muzzy Van Hossmere to rave reviews. Ralph has just wrapped the Broadway bound production of The First Wives Club musical at The Old Globe in San Diego, where she brought new life to the role of Elyse Elliot, originally played by Goldie Hawn in the movie.

No stranger to television, Ralph’s credits include “It’s a Living,” “Designing Women,” “The District,” and most notably, “Moesha” for which TV Guide named her one of TV’s best Mom’s and was nominated for seven Image Awards. Sheryl has shared the big screen with some of Hollywood’s award-winning leading men with film credits that include “The Mighty Quinn” with Denzel Washington; “Mistress” with Robert de Niro; “The Distinguished Gentlemen” with Eddie Murphy and “To Sleep With Anger” with Danny Glover for which Ralph picked up a win for Best Supporting Actress at the Independent Spirit Awards for her critically acclaimed performance .

Finding success in writing and directing, Ralph’s award-winning short film, “Secrets,” co-starring award-winning actress Alfre Woodard and Robin Givens was a finalist in the HBO Film Short Competition, Showtime’s Filmmaker Award Series, and the BET Filmmaker Award Competition. The film was also selected as the audience favorite at the Outfest Film Festival. “Secrets” was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, as well as the Hollywood Film Festival, the Acapulco Film Festival and the Urban World Film Festival.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that about 250,000 of the 1.2 million people living with HIV don’t know they are infected. Get tested! Visit www.testtogether.org www.divassimplysinging.org