Covington Concert Featuring Michael Bolton to Benefit Jamaican Educational Nonprofits

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Covington, Georgia— Covington’s willingness to “embrace” concert promoters has helped bring music legends to shows that benefit his nonprofit.
Oxford-based Cornell Levy’s organization, Legends in Concert, will welcome multi-platinum Grammy-winning singer Michael Bolton to Legion Field on September 18th.
Levy’s non-profit, ConnectJA, works to provide technical training and equipment to youth in the Caribbean island nation of Jamaica, best known as the birthplace of reggae music.
ConnectJA held four benefit concerts in the Metro Atlanta area, but failed to secure a spot for the fifth show.
“Nobody accepted us,” Levi said.
He then pitched the idea to Covington city leaders and was able to secure Legion Field for a multi-artist show, he said.
Bolton is one of the best-selling artists in history with 28 million records sold in the United States alone, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
He is best known for his 1980s and 90s hits, including “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You,” “Soul Provider,” and “When a Man Loves a Woman.”
Other members of the bill are rooted in Jamaican music, perhaps best known for Marsha Griffiths.
Griffith is best known for his 1983 song “Electric Boogie”, which was remixed as “Electric Slide” in 1989 and inspired the international line dance hit of the same name.
But before that, he was a member of the I Threes, back-up singers for reggae legend Bob Marley and The Wailers.
The show will also feature reggae bands LUST and Jiggy King, Lady G, Junie Ranks, Anthony Malvo and Nanamos.
Levy said he was able to get in touch with Bolton’s management group after a friend in Connecticut offered help contacting Bolton, who is from Connecticut and still lives there.
Mr. Bolton then asked what the show was for and agreed to participate, Mr. Levy said.
“He said he was honored to be there,” Levi said.
Levi is from Jamaica and previously worked for Hewlett-Packard in Alpharetta. He got the idea for the nonprofit after hearing about the need for computers from his cousin, who is a teacher in Jamaica.
He then asked his employer to donate the hardware, but they were unwilling to donate items they could not provide support for. He said this is a problem in some countries.
Levy founded his nonprofit in 2011 and says he was able to ship 85 desktops to one school in a poor country.
ConnectJA also donated a media center with 40 computers and more than 20,000 books to Guy’s Hill High School in Jamaica, where Levy graduated.
His nonprofit seeks to reverse the “brain drain” that Jamaica, like other Third World countries, suffers from.
“I think we can make an impact,” he said.
The concert will offer tickets for a VIP area with approximately 500 seats, with the remaining tickets being for standing only.
Legion Field is located at 3173 Mill St. NE in Covington.
For show and ticket details, please visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/legends-in-concert-atl-tickets-341401921337.
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