
For this year's Apollo Theatre annual Spring Benefit Concert and Awards Ceremony, the famed Harlem concert venue will honor a king and queen.
The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, and the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson, will receive this year's Apollo Legends Hall of Fame award.
Jackson got his start at the Apollo in the late-1960s when he and his brothers won Amateur Night. Franklin joins previous Apollo Legends Hall of Fame inductees Quincy Jones, Patti LaBelle, Smokey Robinson, Little Richard, Gladys Knight and the Pips and Ella Fitzgerald. She will be present at the June 14 event.
The Apollo has nailed Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx to host the fifth annual gala.
Chairman of the Apollo's board of directors, Richard Parsons, is honored to be a part of the venue's future.
"The Apollo Theater shares a unique relationship with everyone who walks through its doors, from the generations of stars whose careers were launched on our stage to our world-famous, international audience to the thousands in Harlem who are served by our programs," Parsons said.
"With the support of businesses, combined with commitments from civic-minded individuals, this milestone event will go far in helping to guarantee the future of the Apollo and its programs."
Also being honored this year are celebrity couple Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, who will receive the Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis Arts & Humanitarian Award, which is given to a couple who embodies the beliefs of the famed entertainers.
JPMorgan Chase will be recognized for its corporate leadership to the Apollo and the Harlem community. Following the gala event, DJ D-Nice will spin at after party, which will be held at the Apollo Supper Club.


Comments: (8)
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By: meanvee on 4/02/2010 1:26AM
Its great to see the Apollo theater honoring Micheal Jackson & Aretha Franklin.
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By: Trudy on 4/02/2010 6:16PM
I think this is simply marvelous and I can't wait to see it. I love giving recognition to all who deserve it and these all deserve it. God bless and keep you all is my prayer.
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By: Astris on 4/02/2010 7:40PM
Great! I'm glad the Apollo is honoring MJ. Franklin also. Good choices.
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By: airmanchairman on 4/03/2010 5:41AM
"JPMorgan Chase will be recognized for its corporate leadership to the Apollo and the Harlem community."
Corporate leadership? Don't make me laugh. This is a conglomerate once headed by one of three men (others being Henry Ford and Nelson Rockefeller) who conspired to thwart the adoption of free electricity-powered industry as invented by Nicola Tesla in the 1920s.
And all in order to prop up the world-polluting petroleum-based industry that costs the whole world and its pet rabbit an arm and a leg in heating, lighting, air-conditioning and transportation bills, never mind causing several ruinous wars and threatening even more of them today.
I challenge the world to imagine how much more advanced the worlds of transportation, invention and entertainment (including the Internet, TV and show business) would have been had the boundless energy of the atmospheric "ether" (as Tesla called it) been allowed to be freely used by everyone regardless of financial status to innovate and bring even more happiness to all of us, including Harlem.
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By: Rosemarie on 6/19/2010 2:10AM
Great! How can I get tickets
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By: YES ,TEDDY WAS LOVE on 4/08/2010 1:01AM
I AGREE, WHAT ABOUT TEDDY P. NOTHING BET, TEDDY WAS A TRUE ICON JOYCE DETROIT MICH
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By: JOYCE LEWIS on 4/08/2010 1:06AM
YES TEDDY DID NOT GET ANY HONOR, A MAN WITH A VOICE SO POWERFUL, I NO IF MICHEAL JACKSON WAS STILL HERE HE WOULD NOT LET THAT GO, YES MICHEAL IS THE KING. ARETHA. THE QUEEN OF SOUL. TEDDY THE MAN OF LOVE, THE FIRST ONE TO GIVE A CONCERT FOR LADIES ONLY. COME ON BET, CENTRIC JOY DETROIT
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By: maximus122007 on 5/05/2010 11:11PM
does anyone know what network this will air on? i really really want to watch this. Aretha and Michael
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