Arts/Music

Bonnie Raitt To Receive NARM's Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award

Top40-Charts.com/New York/NY/USA/21-Jul-05

… The daughter of the late Broadway icon John Raitt (Carousel, Oklahoma!, The Pajama Game) and accomplished pianist/singer Marge Goddard, she was raised in a climate of appreciation of the arts, Quaker traditions, and a respect for social activism, as well as a love for music. As a Harvard/Radcliffe student majoring in Social Relations and African Studies in the 60s, she immersed herself in the city's turbulent cultural and political activities, including the antiwar and Civil Rights movements, while at the same time exploring her love for Folk and Blues guitar. Raitt also continues to use her influence to affect the way music is perceived and appreciated in the world. In 1988, she co-founded the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, which works to improve royalties, financial conditions, and recognition for a whole generation of R&B pioneers to whom she feels we owe so much.

In 1995, she initiated the Bonnie Raitt Guitar Project with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, currently running in 200 clubs around the world, to encourage underprivileged youth to play music as budgets for music instruction in the schools run dry. ….