Press Releases
ATLANTA – March 16, 2010 – As part of its 2010 nationwide concert tour kicking off this spring, legendary “rock and roll band with horns” Chicago is joining forces with the American Cancer Society to create a world with less breast cancer and more birthdays. The band and the Society, which last year declared itself The Official Sponsor Of Birthdays®, will offer fans the experience of a lifetime, and the chance to contribute to the fight against breast cancer with the Sing With Chicago promotion.
Fans in every city where the band is performing will be able to bid on a package that includes two premium tickets, backstage passes, and the opportunity to sing the worldwide, classic hit song "If You Leave Me Now" onstage with the band during the concert. Chicago and the Society are making this exciting experience available in dozens of U.S. cities through the end of the year using an online auction on Mission Fish, the charitable arm of E-bay. All proceeds will directly aid the Society’s fight against breast cancer. See the auction page here: http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=americancancersociety.
While only one fan can win each auction, all fans at Chicago concerts will have an opportunity to help save lives and support the breast cancer fight by making a one-time donation to the American Cancer Society by texting the word Chicago to 20222. Fans will also be encouraged to join the growing movement for more birthdays at morebirthdays.com.
“We are so grateful to be working with Chicago and thrilled to give Chicago fans across the country such a fun and exciting opportunity to support the American Cancer Society and our work in breast cancer” said Terry Music, chief mission delivery officer, American Cancer Society and herself a breast cancer survivor. “A rock concert is a giant celebration, which makes this tour a great way to introduce fans to the movement for more birthdays.”
"Chicago is joining forces with the American Cancer Society to raise awareness and dollars to fight breast cancer and save lives. Because so many of our fans are women, and the men who love them, many of whom feel passionately about breast cancer, we are looking forward to working with the ACS on our tour dates this year,” said the band. “We would love to celebrate a world with more birthdays!"
Everyone has a favorite Chicago song. Some of their many hits include: “If You Leave Me Now”, “Make Me Smile”, “25 or 6 to 4”, “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”, “Saturday In The Park”, “Just You 'N Me,” “Wishing You Were Here”, “Hard To Say I'm Sorry”, “Hard Habit To Break”, “You're The Inspiration” - and so many more. Lifetime achievements include a Grammy Award, multiple American Music Awards, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a Chicago street dedicated in their honor, and keys to and proclamations from an impressive list of US cities. Record sales top the 100,000,000 mark, and include 21 Top 10 singles, 5 consecutive Number One albums, 11 Number One singles and 5 Gold singles. An incredible 25 of their 32 albums have been certified platinum, and the band has a total of 47 gold and platinum awards.
Chicago is the first American rock band to chart Top 40 albums in five decades. In Billboard Magazine's recent list of Top 100 artists of all time, Chicago came in at #13, the highest charting American band. The line-up on tour will include original band members Robert Lamm on keyboards, vocals, Lee Loughnane on trumpet, James Pankow on trombone, and Walt Parazaider on woodwinds. For more on the tour, visit chicagotheband.com.
Chicago has generously supported other charitable causes in the past, donating a portion of ticket sales to support finding a cure for a fatal children’s disease and an organization that serves children and adults with special needs.
On the summer tour dates, The Doobie Brothers, one of America's most iconic and treasured popular bands, who have racked up countless diamond, platinum and gold records, multiple Grammy Awards and continuously sold-out concerts in the course of their extraordinary career, will be on the bill. They will also release a new album of original material in 2010, produced by the legendary Ted Templeman. Doobie Brothers are comprised of founding members and principal songwriters Tom Johnston and Pat Simmons with longtime Doobies guitar wizard John McFee and original drummer Michael Hossack rounding out the core lineup. Chicago and the Doobie Brothers will perform a set together at the end of each of these summer shows.
For more information on Sing With Chicago, visit cancer.org/singwithchicago.
About the American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society combines an unyielding passion with nearly a century of experience to save lives and end suffering from cancer. As a global grassroots force of more than three million volunteers, we fight for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. We save lives by helping people stay well by preventing cancer or detecting it early; helping people get well by being there for them during and after a cancer diagnosis; by finding cures through investment in groundbreaking discovery; and by fighting back by rallying lawmakers to pass laws to defeat cancer and by rallying communities worldwide to join the fight. As the nation’s largest non-governmental investor in cancer research, contributing more than $3.4 billion, we turn what we know about cancer into what we do. As a result, more than 11 million people in America who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will be celebrating birthdays this year. To learn more about us or to get help, call us any time, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Andrew Becker
American Cancer Society
212-237-3899
andrew.becker@cancer.org
FOR CHICAGO INFORMATION:
Laurie Gorman
310-550-5256
laurie3g@aol.com