[306] ALS SURVIVOR TO BE FETED AT MTSU GOSPEL EXTRAVAGANZA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 10, 2009EDITORIAL CONTACT: Mary Glass, 615-898-5145; mglass@mtsu.edu

ALS SURVIVOR TO BE FETED AT MTSU GOSPEL EXTRAVAGANZA
Choirs, Soloists, Models, Dramatic Readings on Tap for Evening of Praise

(MURFREESBORO) – Albert Richardson, a gospel singer who has lived for 14 years with Lou Gehrig’s disease, will be the honoree at the ninth annual Gospel Music Extravaganza at 6 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22, in MTSU’s Murphy Center. The 52-year-old Richardson walks with the support of fitted bracelets on both legs, a remarkable achievement for someone who suffers from an incurable ailment that claims the lives of most people who have it within two to five years. He was honored with the Jerry Anderson Humanitarian Award at the Murfreesboro and MTSU NAACP’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. brunch on Jan. 17. Lou Gehrig’s disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, “is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord,” according to www.alsa.org, the official Web site of the ALS Association. It is called “Lou Gehrig’s disease” after the New York Yankees superstar who died of the illness in 1941.
All proceeds from the concert, a staple of MTSU’s Black History Month, will benefit Richardson. The lineup of entertainers slated to pay tribute to him includes choirs, soloists, dancers and models. Many of Richardson’s fellow performers are scheduled to appear, including the MTSU Gospel Choir, the Bingham Sisters, Darryl Chaney with the Christ Fellowship Chorale, the Bethel Mass Choir, Smith Fork District with Vera Warrick, the Rutherford County Community Choir with Lucille Wilcox, the Cherry Grove Men, Loretta Brown, Cicely Floyd, saxophonist Rev. Earnest Newsom, William Verge, David Brown, Carl Richardson, African-American Apparel Models (Nolia Newsom, coordinator), Generation for Creation Kids, Zachary Frazier, and poet/writer Darryl B. Rankins. The national service sorority Gamma Sigma Sigma and its social chair, Cheyara Collier, are supporters of this event. Admission is $10 per person, $5 for students, and free for children under age six. Free parking will be available in the Greenland Drive parking lot. For more information, contact Mary Glass at 615-898-5145.


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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For a color jpeg of Albert Richardson, contact Gina Logue in the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.