Twenty years ago, Coretta Scott King first dreamed of building a memorial for her husband, Martin Luther King Jr.
With $79 million raised to date for the tribute to King on the National Mall priced at $100 million, the Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation announced Tuesday it will hold a star-studded concert event to help reach the funding goal.
Scheduled for Sept. 18 at Radio City Music Hall in New York, the Dream Concert is expected to bring in another $2 million to $3 million in ticket sales and corporate sponsorship, said Harry Johnson, the foundation’s president and chief executive.
The list of donors to the foundation includes designer Tommy Hilfiger and rap mogul Russell Simmons, co-chairs of the Executive Leadership Committee in charge of helping to organize the concert, foundation spokeswoman Rica Orszag said.
The event is in addition to a series of Dream Dinners hosting up to 400 people each being held around the country to raise money for the memorial. Organizers are designing the concert to be more inclusive, Johnson saidß.
“Tommy Hilfiger decided a concert would allow the everyday citizen to contribute to the memorial,” Johnson said. “We want people to stay excited about this concert and the memorial.”
The Dream Concert promises to bring in “big names” from across the musical spectrum, Orszag said, but organizers will not announce the official lineup for another two weeks. Tickets for the concert will go on sale in June, she said.
Producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis will serve as artistic directors for the fundraising concert. Also lending support as members of the event’s host committee are Muhammad Ali, Angela Bassett, Jamie Foxx, Whoopi Goldberg and Michael Jordan, among others. Workers broke ground for the memorial on the Tidal Basin between the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials last November, and planners expect the memorial to be completed by 2008, Orszag said. King’s oldest child, Yolanda, died Tuesday in California. The family believes the death may have been heart-related.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
