Gucci Timepieces & Jewelry and the Recording Academy® will celebrate 5 years of partnership at a private, exclusive pre-GRAMMY brunch with singer/songwriter Aloe Blacc on Saturday, February 7 at the Sunset Tower Hotel in Los Angeles. Blacc, whose Lift Your Spirit is currently GRAMMY nominated for Best R&B Album, has scored hit singles with The Man and Wake Me Up (with Avicii). Executive Director of GRAMMY Museum®, Bob Santelli, will lead Blacc in an intimate interview followed by a special musical performance.
Since the very beginning of the partnership, Gucci Timepieces & Jewelry and The Recording Academy have funded a series of initiatives celebrating Gucci’s commitment to supporting the music community, to preserving its heritage and to fostering the growth of young talents through the proceeds raised from the Gucci GRAMMY Timepiece Collection.
In 2011, Gucci Timepieces & Jewelry lent its support to the Music Preservation Program, a key initiative that seeks to preserve important musical recordings that are vital to our collective cultural heritage and a central mission of the GRAMMY Museum®. Together with the Muzak Archives, the Program was able to preserve and digitally re-master over 30 musical recordings and nine original compositions of legendary jazz performer and musician Thomas Fats Waller (1904 – 1943) for future generations to enjoy.
At the beginning of 2012, Gucci announced the establishment of the Gucci Timepieces & Jewelry Music Fund, a program, created in collaboration with The Recording Academy and The GRAMMY Foundation®, that seeks to nurture talented young musicians by providing scholarships and opportunities for musical development. Since its inception, Funds have been established Greater China, Japan and the UK and operate in conjunction with a leading musical institution in each respective country. The most promising students from each Fund are invited annually to attend the prestigious GRAMMY Camp® in Los Angeles. Over the years, students from the Funds have performed at the Beijing Music Festival and the Sapporo City Jazz Festival and had the once in a lifetime opportunity to attend a master class taught by American jazz legend – and 14-time GRAMMY® winner – Herbie Hancock.
Music has been, and continues to be, a fundamental part of Gucci’s heritage. Gucci and The Recording Academy have had the pleasure of celebrating its partnership with some of the world’s most celebrated musicians, including Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, and Janelle Monáe.