VH1 Save The Music Foundation to Honor John Mayer and The ASCAP Foundation at The VH1 Save The Music Foundation's 2010 Gala Presented by LG Mobile Phones

NEW YORK, Aug. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- On Monday, November 8th, The VH1 Save The Music Foundation will honor seven-time Grammy Award winner John Mayer and The ASCAP Foundation, represented by songwriting legend and The ASCAP Foundation President, Paul Williams to mark thirteen years of restoring music education programs in America's public schools with a Gala celebration at Cipriani Wall Street. Presented by LG Mobile Phones, the event will celebrate music as a universal language that shapes and moves all of our lives.

Throughout the evening there will be performances, as well as a special tribute to the 45th Anniversary of Rodgers & Hammerstein's The Sound Of Music. In addition, a group of current students and alumni from the VH1 Save The Music Foundation's first grant recipient school, the P.S. 58 Chamber Orchestra, will play together for the first time as a 35-member orchestra, demonstrating the impact of the Foundation's programs. In addition to LG Mobile Phones, the evening's sponsors include Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Anheuser Busch, Grey Goose Vodka, HP, JetBlue Airways, and is supported by DJ Vice, Skam Artist Entertainment, Mr. Boddington's Studio and Yak Pak. The night will celebrate the Foundation's ongoing commitment to ensuring that all students in America's public schools are getting a complete education that includes the benefit of music and develops the whole child.  

This year's honorees, both John Mayer and The ASCAP Foundation have worked for years on behalf of VH1 Save The Music to deliver that message. They will join an esteemed group of past honorees that include Former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton, Grammy award-winning superstar, Mariah Carey, NAMM, the International Music Products Association, and Founder and Vice Chairman of The VH1 Save The Music Foundation John Sykes.

John Mayer has served as an advocate and patron of youth arts & music programs throughout his career, using his spotlight to speak frequently about arts education as an essential counter-balance to traditional studies. The former Berklee College of Music student and current seven-time Grammy Award winner has championed both national and local arts organizations over the years. Since 2006, John has been a part of VH1 Save The Music's public service and fundraising campaigns – in 2009, he even headlined his own. "One Splendid Evening: A night with John Mayer & Friends" raised enough funds to restore a school's entire instrumental music program. Over the years, Mayer has returned to Berklee to teach master classes in songwriting while his own Back To You Fund earmarks funds for local arts-related programs across the country, amongst other causes.

Hall of Fame Songwriter and The ASCAP Foundation President, Paul Williams will accept on behalf of The ASCAP Foundation. Since 2001, The ASCAP Foundation has partnered with the VH1 Save the Music Foundation and Alfred Music Publishing to contribute over $800,000 worth of sheet music, method books, and band arrangements to hundreds of schools across the country. In addition, they have provided curriculum information for the "Creativity in the Classroom: Creative Ownership and Copyright" program designed to help students recognize their own creative work and understand their rights as owners of intellectual property.

"We are delighted that we are honoring long time supporters, John Mayer, as well as The ASCAP Foundation, who have both given generously of their time, talent, and money to advance the Foundation's mission. Over the years, The VH1 Save The Music Foundation has taken the lead in restoring and sustaining instrumental music education in America's public schools and raising awareness about the importance of music as a part of a child's complete education- and with the help of our honorees, we continue to move closer to achieving that goal," says Paul Cothran, Executive Director of The VH1 Save The Music Foundation.

For opportunities on how to participate in the Gala or to purchase tickets, please visit www.vh1savethemusic.com/gala2010.

About The VH1 Save the Music Foundation:

The VH1 Save The Music Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring instrumental music education programs in America's public schools, and raising awareness about the importance of music as part of each child's complete education.  To date, VH1 Save The Music has provided more than $45 million in new musical instruments to 1,700 public schools in more than 100 cities around the country, impacting the lives of over 1.4 million children.  With the support of people across the country and the 2010-2011 Ambassador Class including: OneRepublic, Chrisette Michele, Nick Lachey, Mandy Moore, Kelly Clarkson, Jason Mraz, Fall Out Boy, Colbie Caillat, it is The Foundation's renewed commitment to donate one hundred million dollars worth of new musical instruments to ensure that even a greater number of students receive a comprehensive music education in the coming decade. Get involved and learn more at www.vh1savethemusic.com.

About John Mayer:

The consistency with which John Mayer combines word craft and melody has earned him rarefied status as a respected songwriter and musician. As one of few musicians to achieve both critical acclaim and popular appeal, the seven-time Grammy Award winner has earned accolades for each album release while selling in excess of 15 million albums worldwide.

Mayer has exceeded expectations not only as a solo artist, guitar player and songwriter but as a renowned collaborator, the front-man of a searing blues trio and most recently, as a producer. In 2001, he made his acclaimed debut with Room For Squares, followed by Heavier Things in 2003. In 2005, he recruited power players Steve Jordan and Pino Palladio for John Mayer Trio and released a muscular, live blues album entitled Try!. Mayer next stepped into the role of co-producer for CONTINUUM, released in 2006, and again on Battle Studies in 2009, which debuted at #1 in the US upon its release.

Known as a musician who defies genre boundaries, John Mayer has performed and/or recorded with artists such as Eric Clapton, BB King, Buddy Guy, T-Bone Burnett, Herbie Hancock, Dixie Chicks, Keith Urban, Jay Z and Alicia Keys.

About The ASCAP Foundation:

Founded in 1975, The ASCAP Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to supporting American music creators and encouraging their development through music education and talent development programs.  Included in these are songwriting workshops, grants, scholarships, awards, recognition and community outreach programs, and public service projects for senior composers and lyricists. The ASCAP Foundation is supported by contributions from ASCAP members and from music lovers throughout the United States.

SOURCE VH1 Save the Music Foundation