Red Hot Organization
Encyclopedia
Red Hot Organization is a not-for-profit, 501(c) 3, international organization
International organization
An intergovernmental organization, sometimes rendered as an international governmental organization and both abbreviated as IGO, is an organization composed primarily of sovereign states , or of other intergovernmental organizations...

 dedicated to fighting AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 through pop culture.

Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...

s, related television programs and media events to raise donations totaling more than 10 million dollars for HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

 / AIDS relief and awareness around the world.

The Red Hot Organization Collection was donated to Fales Library
Fales Library
New York University's Fales Library and Special Collections is located on the third floor of the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library at 70 Washington Square South between LaGuardia Place and the Schwartz Plaza, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It houses nearly 200,000...

 in New York City in 2006.

Mission

Red Hot is a not-for-profit production company that has produced 20 albums and dedicated more than 10 million dollars to worthy organizations, causes and pro-social projects around the world. Its mission is to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues. In 2010, donations from the proceeds of its latest album alone surpassed $1 million mark—with funds going to benefit: Partners In Health
Partners In Health
Partners In Health is a Boston, Massachusetts-based non-profit health care organization dedicated to providing a "preferential option for the poor". It was founded in 1987 by Dr. Paul Farmer, Ophelia Dahl, Thomas J. White, Todd McCormack, and Dr...

, Casey House, Citta
Citta
Citta was one of the chief lay disciples of the Buddha. He was a wealthy merchant from Savatthi. His life and character were so pure that near his death, had he wished to be a chakravartin, it would've been granted. However, he turned down this wish as it was temporal...

, Camp AmeriKids, Out Youth, Housing Works
Housing Works
Housing Works is a New York City based non-profit fighting the twin crises of AIDS and homelessness. The charity is well-known for its operations, which have recently included outreach to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake....

, AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, A Loving Spoonful
A Loving Spoonful
A Loving Spoonful is a Vancouver, British Columbia-based charitable organization that provides free meals to people living with HIV/AIDS in the Metro Vancouver area....

, San Francisco AIDS Foundation
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Committed to ending the pandemic and human suffering caused by HIV, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation develops innovative solutions, combining scientific evidence with community experience to fight HIV/AIDS and promote health...

, Old Town Clinic run by Central City Concern, After Hours
After Hours
- Television and film :* After Hours , a 1985 movie directed by Martin Scorsese* After Hours , a 1953 Canadian television series* After Hours , a 2007 television drama broadcasted in Singapore...

, Nebraska AIDS Project
Nebraska AIDS Project
The Nebraska AIDS Project is an organization for the "prevention and support" of AIDS and victims. Founded in 1984 by members of the community, they are based in Omaha, Nebraska....

, Advocates for Youth
Advocates for Youth
Advocates for Youth is a nonprofit organization and advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., USA, dedicated to sexuality education, the prevention of HIV and of sexually transmitted disease, teenage pregnancy prevention, youth access to condoms and contraception , equality for LGBT youth, and...

, PSI Youth, UK THT / Crusaid, Breakthrough Cincinnati, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, and Bronx AIDS Services.

Red Hot is more of a creative production company than a traditional charitable organization. Overhead is kept to a minimum and production focused on making innovative projects that target hard to reach audiences by using popular culture and artful propaganda. Revenues from these projects are given to traditional charities, often in collaboration with the artists who have contributed their music or art.

"What is significant is their fund raising does not compete with local AIDS service organizations. They tap basically new money, and that's very important." Furthermore, the contracts Red Hot signs with artists guarantees that at least 80% of the profits generated from the album sales will be earmarked for AIDS efforts.

Early history

First founded as King Cole, Inc. by Leigh Blake and John Carlin
John Carlin (businessman)
John Carlin is an American entrepreneur, art historian, record producer, and cultural historian has credentials that are “unconventional and upscale: a degree in comparative literature from Columbia University, a Ph.D...

, Red Hot was established in 1989 in response to the devastation wrought by AIDS on a generation of New York artists and intellectuals. John Carlin, who first pursued a career as an Entertainment lawyer after receiving a degree in comparative literature from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, a Ph.D. from Yale in the same subject, and a law degree from Columbia had an “improbable dream: to create an AIDS charity album with pop stars singing Cole Porter songs.”

In 1990 the dream was realized when Red Hot + Blue
Red Hot + Blue
Red Hot + Blue is the first in the series of compilation albums from the Red Hot Organization. The recording was the first in the Red Hot Benefit Series...

was released, featuring such stars as David Byrne
David Byrne
David Byrne may refer to:*David Byrne , musician and former Talking Heads frontman**David Byrne , his eponymous album*David Byrne , Irish footballer*David Byrne , English footballer...

, Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox, OBE , born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A...

, Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

, U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...

 and Erasure
Erasure
Erasure are an English synthpop duo, consisting of songwriter and keyboardist Vince Clarke and singer Andy Bell. Erasure entered the music scene in 1985 with their debut single "Who Needs Love Like That"...

. Carlin, 43 at the time, couldn’t believe he pulled it off: "That CD was inspired by naïveté and sheer will." Red Hot + Blue ultimately sold over 1 million copies worldwide, and raised millions of dollars for AIDS charities such as AmFAR and ActUp. The release of Red Hot + Blue became the template for many charity projects that followed. Its one-and-a-half-hour TV special, hosted by Richard Gere
Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...

, Carrie Fisher
Carrie Fisher
Carrie Frances Fisher is an American actress, novelist, screenwriter, and lecturer. She is most famous for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, her bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge, for which she wrote the screenplay to the film of the same name, and her...

 and Kyle MacLachlan
Kyle MacLachlan
Kyle Merritt MacLachlan is an American actor. MacLachlan is best known for his roles in cult films Blue Velvet as Jeffrey Beaumont, Showgirls as Zack Carey, as Paul Atreides in Dune, and Ray Manzarek in the Oliver Stone film The Doors...

 aired on World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day, observed December 1 every year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. Government and health officials observe the day, often with speeches or forums on the AIDS topics. Since 1995, the President of the United States has made an...

 during prime time on ABC.

The 1990s

The 1990s were a hotbed of activity for Red Hot. In 1992, Red Hot produced the second in the series: Red Hot + Dance
Red Hot + Dance
Red Hot + Dance is an album produced by the Red Hot Organization, an organization dedicated to raising money and awareness to fight the onslaught of HIV/AIDS....

features remixes and original tracks by major club artists, remixed by some of the most influential DJs and producers in the world. It also contains three original tracks by George Michael
George Michael
George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...

, including the international smash hit “Too Funky,” and "Supernatural (Original Arms House Mix)" with Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...

. For the Dance project, Red Hot held club nights around the world spotlighting top dance performers and DJs. These parties were filmed for an AIDS awareness television special and released on home video.

In 1993, Red Hot released, No Alternative
No Alternative
-Home video track listing:# Matthew Sweet "Superdeformed"#*directed by Kevin Kerslake# Neneh Cherry "Athens, Georgia 1993"#*directed by Jim McKay & Michael Stipe# Urge Overkill "Take a Walk"#*directed by Matt Mahurin...

, produced by Paul Heck, which featured Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...

, the Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....

, a then-unknown band, Smashing Pumpkins and Soul Asylum
Soul Asylum
Soul Asylum is an American alternative rock band that formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1983.The band originally formed in 1981 under the name Loud Fast Rules, with the original line-up consisting of Dan Murphy, Dave Pirner, Karl Mueller and Pat Morley. The latter was replaced by Grant Young in...

 and received an A+ by Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

. It features original tracks and covers from bands that went on to define the alternative rock scene of the 90s. An MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 special and home video featured live performances, music videos, and information about AIDS for an audience otherwise untargeted by other AIDS organizations.

Red Hot + Country
Red Hot + Country
Red Hot + Country was the follow-up to No Alternative in the Red Hot Series of compilation albums, a series produced to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues...

was released in 1994 by Mercury Nashville. The album – which received an A- from Entertainment Weekly, features music from the classic country and classic rock genres performed by an assortment of seasoned old and new country music artists including Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...

, Stills & Nash, Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....

 and many others. The album received two Grammy nominations. A live show was held at the Ryman Auditorium
Ryman Auditorium
The Ryman Auditorium is a 2,362-seat live performance venue, located at 115 5th Avenue North, in Nashville, Tennessee and is best known as the historic home of the Grand Ole Opry....

, the ancestral home to the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...

. A recording of the live show was eventually released on home video.

In 1995: Time Magazine listed Red Hot’s “Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool” as its number one pick for the Best Music of 1994. One of the first projects to explore the impact of AIDS upon the African American community, the CD features collaborations between old school jazz performers and contemporary hip hop artists including: Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...

, MC Solaar
MC Solaar
MC Solaar is a francophone hip hop and rap artist. He is one of the most internationally popular and influential French rappers....

, Digable Planets
Digable Planets
Digable Planets is an American alternative hip hop trio based in New York City, composed of Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler , Mary Ann "Ladybug Mecca" Vieira and Craig "Doodlebug" Irving . They released their debut album Reachin' in 1993, and their follow-up album Blowout Comb in 1994...

, The Pharcyde
The Pharcyde
The Pharcyde are an alternative hip hop group based in South Central Los Angeles. The original four members of the group are Imani , Slimkid3 , Bootie Brown and Fatlip . DJ Mark Luv was the group's first DJ, followed by producer J-Swift and then J Dilla...

, Don Cherry
Don Cherry
Don Cherry may refer to:* Don Cherry hockey player, coach, and commentator* Don Cherry , trumpeter* Don Cherry...

, Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalis is an American saxophonist, composer and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ensembles and has led the group Buckshot LeFonque.-Biography:Marsalis was born...

, Alice Coltrane
Alice Coltrane
Alice Coltrane, née McLeod was an American jazz pianist, organist, harpist, and composer.-Biography:...

 and many others. “The high concept: to match some of the most exciting performers in hip-hop with some of the finest performers in jazz… The result: a landmark album that brilliantly harnesses the fire of rap and the cool of jazz, transcending genres and generations.”
“The high concept: to match some of the most exciting performers in hip-hop with some of the finest performers in jazz… The result: a landmark album that brilliantly harnesses the fire of rap and the cool of jazz, transcending genres and generations.”


A documentary film focusing on the impact of AIDS on communities of color was broadcast on PBS in tandem with the album release, and released on home video by PolyGram Video.

1995 brought Red Hot + Bothered
Red Hot + Bothered
Red Hot + Bothered is an anthology of the indie rock scene from the 1990s produced by Paul Heck. It was released as part of the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series....

-- an anthology of the indie rock scene from the 1990s. The recording initially appeared as a pair of 103 EP recordings ("Red Hot + Bothered, Volume I, Number 1" and "Red Hot + Bothered Volume I, Number 2,")bundled with limited edition fanzines, spoofing dating guides with advice from well-known artists and writers aimed at reaching the audience on a variety of issues, including relationships, love, sex and the impact of AIDS. The EP recordings were eventually followed-up by a full length CD including several tracks absent on the vinyl EPs.
Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip
Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip
Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip is a compilation album from the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series produced by Paul Heck. It combines elements of ambient, spoken word, and trip hop to expand the ideas of artistic collage and spiritual transcendence of "the Beats"...

and America Is Dying Slowly
America Is Dying Slowly
America Is Dying Slowly is a compilation album, the eighth in the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series of recorded by the Red Hot Organization...

(another acronym for AIDS) followed in 1996. Offbeat combines elements of ambient, spoken word, and hip hop to expand the ideas of artistic collage and spiritual transcendence of the Beat. The album is an offshoot of a larger project called The Beat Experience, which explored the legacy of the Beat movement. America Is Dying Slowly features collaborations from several hip hop acts, including Mobb Deep
Mobb Deep
Mobb Deep is an American hip hop duo from Queensbridge, Queens, New York, U.S., that consists of Havoc and Prodigy. The duo is "one of the most critically acclaimed hardcore East Coast hip-hop groups." The group is best known for its dark, hardcore delivery, as exemplified by the single "Shook Ones...

, De La Soul
De La Soul
De La Soul is an American hip hop trio formed in 1987 on Long Island, New York. The band is best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres...

, Coolio
Coolio
Artis Leon Ivey Jr. , better known by the stage name Coolio, is an American musician, rapper, actor and record producer.-Late 80s:He recorded two singles in the late 80s, titled "Watcha Gonna Do" and "You're Gonna Miss Me"...

, Biz Markie
Biz Markie
Marcel Theo Hall better known by his stage name, Biz Markie, is an American rapper, beatboxer, DJ, comedian, singer, reality television personality, and commercial spokesperson. He is best known for his single "Just a Friend", an American Top 10 hit in 1989...

, Chubb Rock
Chubb Rock
Chubb Rock is a New York-based rapper who released several commercially successful hip hop albums in the early 1990s...

, The Lost Boyz
The Lost Boyz
The Lost Boyz is a hip hop group from South Jamaica, Queens, New York. The original group members were lead MC Mr. Cheeks, backup MC and promoter Freaky Tah , DJ Spigg Nice and Pretty Lou.-Recording career:...

, Pete Rock
Pete Rock
Peter Phillips , better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapper. He rose to prominence in the early 1990s as one half of the critically acclaimed group Pete Rock & CL Smooth...

, and Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
The Wu-Tang Clan is a hip-hop group from Staten Island that consists of RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard. They are frequently joined by fellow childhood friend Cappadonna, a quasi member of the group...

. Dubbed “a masterpiece” by The Source on its release, AIDS was one of the first of such efforts aimed at reaching out to African American men through pop culture.

1996: Red Hot + Rio
Red Hot + Rio
Red Hot + Rio is a compilation album produced by Paul Heck as part of the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series intended to promote AIDS awareness. This installment is a contemporary tribute to the Bossa nova sound, especially the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim...

is a contemporary tribute to the Bossa Nova
Bossa Nova
Bossa Nova may refer to:*Bossa nova, a style of music*Bossa Nova , a dance form associated with the music*Bossa Nova , a 2000 film*Bossa Nova - album by John Pizzarelli...

 sounds that has seduced people around the globe for decades, in particular the music of the great composer and arranger Antonio Carlos Jobim
Antônio Carlos Jobim
Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim , also known as Tom Jobim , was a Brazilian songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, and pianist/guitarist. He was a primary force behind the creation of the bossa nova style, and his songs have been performed by many singers and instrumentalists within...

. This transcontinental pop record puts a modern spin on the magical ambiance and music that was Ipanema in the 1960s.

1997: Red Hot + Latin: Silencio = Muerte, originally released in 1997 on Jellybean Benitez' H.O.L.A Recordings, was the tenth album in the Red Hot series created to fund the fight against AIDS in Latin America and the Latino community. The pairing of artists like David Byrne and CafÈ Tacuba reflected a cultural encounter far ahead of its time that continues to provide a music-without-language-barriers soundtrack for the multi-cultural American experience. When Red Hot + Latin was originally released, the album was the subject of an MTV special that received widespread critical praise and aired worldwide

1998: Like many epidemics, AIDS spread along major trade and travel routes. Onda Sonora (sound wave) follows the Portuguese travel routes by fusing elements from many cultures. It features 40 artists from 11 countries singing in 7 languages. Yet underlying these diverse origins is a common connection beyond their heritageña message of hope and love. This project was created in conjunction with the 1998 World Expo in Lisbon Portugal. A donation of $100,000 was made in Red Hot's name by Imperio Seguradora, helping Red Hot raise AIDS awareness in the Portuguese-speaking world, where reliable AIDS information is desperately needed.

1998: Red Hot + Rhapsody is a contemporary tribute to the classic George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...

 songs that have seduced listeners for nearly a century. In the spirit of RED HOT + BLUE, this project brings together a diverse set of performers to reinterpret the Gershwins' music for new audiences.

1999: Optic Nerve is an interactive, CD-ROM showcasing the life and work of multimedia artist David Wojnarowicz. The disc includes film, interviews, music, performance, painting and writing from the artist. The release is the first entry in the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series with a non-musical focus. Production was handled by the Red Hot Organization (RHO) and Funny Garbage, in conjunction with the New Museum of Contemporary Art
New Museum of Contemporary Art
The New Museum, founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker, is the only museum in New York City exclusively devoted to presenting contemporary art from around the world...

 exhibit entitled "Fever: The Art of David Wojnarowicz."

Safe Sex = Hot Sex

In an effort to spread its message, Red Hot created a “Safe Sex is Hot Sex” campaign in 1992, consisting of postcards, flyers and posters, taken by famed photographers Steven Meisel
Steven Meisel
Steven Meisel is an American photographer, who obtained popular acclaim with his work in US and Italian Vogue and his photographs of friend Madonna in her 1992 book Sex...

 and Bruce Weber
Bruce Weber (photographer)
Bruce Weber is an American fashion photographer and occasional filmmaker. He is most widely known for his ad campaigns for Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Pirelli, Abercrombie & Fitch, Revlon, and Gianni Versace, as well as his work for Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, Elle, Life, Interview, and Rolling Stone...

. Images used include homosexual and heterosexual couples, interracial or not, engaged in intimate, erotic poses.

“Recognizing that traditional health education methods were frequently ineffective, the creators of this poster use the combination of visual and textual messages to normalize and eroticize safe sex. The carefully positioned subjects in the photographs are provocative and instructional--the educational goal is to influence individuals to adopt specific behaviors. The voyeuristic presentation works in conjunction with the message: sex can be enjoyable and safe for homosexual men. “

Also part of the campaign was the creation of several movies. Shot by Lance Acord
Lance Acord
Lance Acord, A.S.C. is an American cinematographer.Acord was born in Marin County, California. He attended Sir Francis Drake High School's School Within A School program and went on to study photography and filmmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute. He began his professional career with...

 on 16 MM in black and white, the videos portray young models, scantily clad, frolicking in a bucolic setting. Bennett Miller
Bennett Miller
Bennett Miller is an American film director.Miller is the director of the feature Capote , a film for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Director. He also directed the documentary film The Cruise...

 (director of Capote
Capote (film)
Capote is a 2005 biographical film about Truman Capote, following the events during the writing of Capote's non-fiction book In Cold Blood. Philip Seymour Hoffman won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his critically acclaimed portrayal of the title role. The movie was...

with Phillip Seymour Hoffman) was an assistant on the film.

The 21st century

2000: Red Hot + Indigo
Red Hot + Indigo
Red Hot + Indigo is the 13th entry from the Red Hot AIDS benefit series of compilation albums produced by Paul Heck. It marks the tenth anniversary of the Red Hot Organization , an international organization which uses mass media as a fundraising tool for its efforts at increasing public AIDS...

, a tribute to the legacy of Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...

, was the 13th album in the Red Hot AIDS benefit series. This project followed suit with Red Hot + Blue, Red Hot + Rio and Red Hot + Rhapsody by featuring modern acts reinterpreting the work of one of the 20th century's greatest songwriters.

2002: Red Hot + Riot is a tribute to the great songs of Fela Anikulapo Kuti. It combines contemporary musicians from across the African Diaspora ñ Urban America, Brazil, Cuba, Europe and West Africa ñ including his son, Femi Kuti
Femi Kuti
Olufela Olufemi Anikulapo Kuti popularly known as Femi Kuti, is a Nigerian musician and the eldest son of afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti....

, and drummer, Tony Allen
Tony Allen (musician)
Tony Oladipo Allen is aNigerian drummer, composer, and songwriter who currently lives and works in Paris. He is currently writing his autobiography "Tony Allen: Master Drummer of Afrobeat" with author/musician Michael E...

, along with a cross-section of some of the most creative musicians in the world. The collaborations are not just musical, but also symbolic of how people need to work together to achieve the positive life force embodied in Fela's music and spirit.

2006: Red Hot released The Shout! Factory, a special two-disc set of the celebrated tribute to Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...

, Red Hot + Blue
Red Hot + Blue
Red Hot + Blue is the first in the series of compilation albums from the Red Hot Organization. The recording was the first in the Red Hot Benefit Series...

, which included a remastered version of the original album and a DVD with music videos directed by cinematic luminaries Jim Jarmusch
Jim Jarmusch
James R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...

, Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders
Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders is a German film director, playwright, author, photographer and producer.-Early life:Wenders was born in Düsseldorf. He graduated from high school in Oberhausen in the Ruhr area. He then studied medicine and philosophy in Freiburg and Düsseldorf...

 and Jonathan Demme
Jonathan Demme
Robert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. Best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director, he has also directed the acclaimed movies Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married, the Talking Heads concert movie Stop...

, among many others.

In 2009, Red Hot released its latest compilation Dark Was The Night
Dark Was the Night
Dark Was the Night is the twentieth compilation release benefiting the Red Hot Organization, an international charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS...

, an indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 album that generated donations of over $1 million. It features exclusive recordings by a number of independent artists and production by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National
The National (band)
The National is an indie rock band formed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1999 and currently based in Brooklyn, New York. The band's lyrics are written and sung by Matt Berninger, a baritone...

. The title is derived from the Blind Willie Johnson
Blind Willie Johnson
"Blind" Willie Johnson was an American singer and guitarist, whose music straddled the border between blues and spirituals....

 song “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground
Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground
"Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground"Because documentation is scarce in early recordings, the title of the song appears differently in many sources. It is often called "Dark Was the Night" or punctuated as "Dark Was the Night ". is a gospel-blues song written and performed by American musician...

,” which is covered on this collection by the Kronos Quartet
Kronos Quartet
Kronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973 in Seattle, Washington. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco, California. The longest-running combination of performers had Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hank Dutt on viola, and Joan...

. On 26 October 2009, it was announced on 4AD
4AD
4AD is a British independent record label that was started in 1979 by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, funded by Beggars Banquet Records, and is still active today...

’s website that profits raised by the compilation for the benefit of AIDS/HIV awareness and prevention amounted to £423,212 ($668,358), a sum that represents all the profits from worldwide sales for the first half of 2009. A Dark Was the Night Live concert followed at Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...

 on May 3, 2009. The concert was released as a DVD and included footage from the show, as well as exclusive rehearsal scenes, interviews and promotional performances featuring Andrew Bird
Andrew Bird
Andrew Bird is an American musician, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.- Early life and the Bowl of Fire :...

, Dirty Projectors
Dirty Projectors
The Dirty Projectors aka David Longstreth includes Amber Coffman , Angel Deradoorian , Brian McOmber , Nat Baldwin , and Haley Dekle during live performances...

, The National, Colin Meloy
Colin Meloy
Colin Patrick Henry Meloy is the lead singer and songwriter for the Portland, Oregon, folk-rock band The Decemberists. In addition to vocals, he performs with an acoustic guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bouzouki, harmonica, percussion and interpretive hand gestures.-Early life...

, David Sitek and Yeasayer
Yeasayer
-History:The band's three core members, Chris Keating, Ira Wolf Tuton, and Anand Wilder, first came to attention after appearing at the SXSW festival in early 2007. Their first single consisted of a double A-side of the tracks "Sunrise" and "2080"...

 - plus more from David Byrne
David Byrne
David Byrne may refer to:*David Byrne , musician and former Talking Heads frontman**David Byrne , his eponymous album*David Byrne , Irish footballer*David Byrne , English footballer...

, Bon Iver
Bon Iver
Bon Iver is a Grammy nominated folk band founded in 2007 by American indie folk singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. It includes Michael Noyce, Sean Carey, and Matthew McCaughan. Vernon released Bon Iver's debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago independently in July 2007. The majority of that album was...

, My Brightest Diamond
My Brightest Diamond
My Brightest Diamond is the project of singer–songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Shara Worden. The band has released two studio albums, 2006's Bring Me the Workhorse and 2008's A Thousand Shark's Teeth, along with a remix album Tear It Down and a download-only release through iTunes...

, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings and Feist.

On December 3rd and 4th, 2010, The Red Hot series returned to the Next Wave Festival
Next Wave Festival
is a biennial festival based in Melbourne, Australia, which promotes and showcases the work of young and emerging artists. Encouraging interdisciplinary practice, Next Wave fosters the creation and presentation of works by artists aged 16 to 30 working across a broad range of art forms, including...

 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, United States, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance....

 (BAM) with Red Hot + New Orleans LIVE, saluting the music of the Crescent City in recognition of World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day, observed December 1 every year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. Government and health officials observe the day, often with speeches or forums on the AIDS topics. Since 1995, the President of the United States has made an...

 (Dec 1) with part of the proceeds benefiting the New Orleans' AIDS Tasks Force. Directed by Grammy nominee Trombone Shorty, Red Hot + New Orleans featured Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, Dr. John
Dr. John
Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...

, Irma Thomas
Irma Thomas
Irma Thomas is an American Grammy Award-winning soul and rhythm and blues singer from New Orleans. She is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans"....

, Kermit Ruffins
Kermit Ruffins
Kermit Ruffins is a jazz trumpeter, singer and composer from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. He has been heavily influenced by Louis Armstrong, Louis Jordan and Eddy Jefferson. Ruffins accompanies a large portion of his songs with his own vocals, and he says that the highest note he can hit...

, Ledisi
Ledisi
Ledisi Anibade Young is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Her first name means "to bring forth" or "to come here" in Yoruba. Ledisi is known for her jazz influenced vocals. In 1995, Ledisi formed the group known as Anibade. After unsuccessfully trying to get the group signed to a major...

, Marc Broussard
Marc Broussard
Marc Broussard is an American singer/songwriter. His style is best described as "Bayou Soul," a mix of funk, blues, R&B, rock, and pop, matched with distinct Southern roots...

, Ivan Neville
Ivan Neville
Ivan Neville is a multi-instrumentalist musician, singer, and songwriter. He is the son of Aaron Neville and nephew to members of The Neville Brothers....

, Partners-N-Crime
Partners-N-Crime
Partners-N-Crime is a rap group from New Orleans, Louisiana, made up of Kango Slim and Mr. Meanor , friends raised in the 17th ward of New Orleans. Prime Time joined the group later on. The two earned a local buzz performing at various New Orleans talent shows, and eventually signed to Big Boy...

, Mannie Fresh
Mannie Fresh
Byron O. Thomas, better known by his stage name Mannie Fresh, is currently an artist and hip-hop producer who records for Def Jam South and his own division Chubby Boy Records...

, Roger Lewis
Roger Lewis
Roger Lewis , a former Fellow of Wolfson College at Oxford University, is the biographer of Anthony Burgess. Lewis's book, Anthony Burgess: A Life, was published in 2002....

, Phil and Keith Frazier, with video Design by Yuki Nakajima and stage design by Alex Delaunay.

Red Hot is currently partnering with the non-profit organization Advocates for Youth
Advocates for Youth
Advocates for Youth is a nonprofit organization and advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., USA, dedicated to sexuality education, the prevention of HIV and of sexually transmitted disease, teenage pregnancy prevention, youth access to condoms and contraception , equality for LGBT youth, and...

 (Advocatesforyouth.org) to sponsor a national film contest, RedHotAnd.us (RedHot+) that runs through August 31. The cause-related contest gives young artists and filmmakers an opportunity to explore and present their own unique experiences growing up and being impacted by HIV and AIDS. Through short films and PSA submissions, the RedHot+ contest serves as a catalyst (and soundtrack) to look at HIV and AIDS through a contemporary lens .
Contest winners earn grand prize money and travel to NYC to participate in Red Hot special events in support of World AIDS Day in December 2011.

Red Hot + Rio 2

RED HOT + RIO 2, produced by Béco Dranoff
Béco Dranoff (music producer)
Béco Dranoff is the Brazilian music and film producer and founder of the Ziriguiboom music label.-Early career:...

, John Carlin
John Carlin
John Carlin is a journalist and author, dealing with both sports and politics. His book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation about former South African president Nelson Mandela is the basis for the 2009 film Invictus.-Personal life:Carlin was born to a Scottish father...

, and Paul Heck in collaboration with U.S. label E1 Entertainment
Entertainment One
Entertainment One Ltd is a leading international entertainment business operating in the United States, Canada, the UK, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Australia and New Zealand...

, is Red Hot Organization’s next entry into its series of tribute albums created to raise money for HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. Consisting of 34 original recordings featuring unique collaborations involving over 60 international and Brazilian stars, RIO 2 is a cutting-edge tribute to the influential Tropicália movement that rocked Brazil’s cultural and political landscape in the late-60’s. In addition, RIO 2 is a 15-year celebration of the first Red Hot + Rio project released to great acclaim in 1996.

Featuring world class performers such as John Legend
John Legend
John Roger Stephens , better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer, musician, and actor. He is the recipient of nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.Prior to the release of his debut album, Stephens' career...

, Caetano Veloso
Caetano Veloso
Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso , better known as Caetano Veloso, is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo which encompassed theatre, poetry and music in the 1960s,...

, Seu Jorge
Seu Jorge
Seu Jorge is a Brazilian musician, singer/songwriter and actor. Born Jorge Mário da Silva, he was raised in a favela in the city of Belford Roxo in the Baixada Fluminense region of Rio de Janeiro state. He is considered by his fans a renewer of Brazilian pop samba...

, Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...

, Bebel Gilberto
Bebel Gilberto
Bebel Gilberto is a Brazilian popular singer often associated with bossa nova. She is the daughter of João Gilberto and singer Miúcha. Her uncle is singer/composer Chico Buarque...

, Of Montreal
Of Montreal
Of Montreal is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. It was founded by frontman Kevin Barnes in 1996, named after a failed romance with a woman "of Montreal." The band is one of the bands of the Elephant 6 collective...

, Aloe Blacc
Aloe Blacc
Aloe Blacc is an American soul singer, rapper, and musician.-Early career and Shine Through :...

, Marisa Monte
Marisa Monte
Marisa de Azevedo Monte is a Brazilian popular singer. As of 2011, she has sold 10 million albums worldwide.- Biography :...

 and more, RIO 2 will create a sunny Brazilian groove by updating the sounds of the Tropicália era for a new generation of listeners.
The project follows Red Hot’s latest successful benefit album, Dark Was The Night
Dark Was the Night
Dark Was the Night is the twentieth compilation release benefiting the Red Hot Organization, an international charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS...

 (Beggars Banquet, 2009), which features top indie-rock artists such as Arcade Fire, The National
The National (band)
The National is an indie rock band formed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1999 and currently based in Brooklyn, New York. The band's lyrics are written and sung by Matt Berninger, a baritone...

, Feist, Grizzly Bear
Grizzly Bear
The grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, the grizzly, or the North American brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America...

, Bon Iver
Bon Iver
Bon Iver is a Grammy nominated folk band founded in 2007 by American indie folk singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. It includes Michael Noyce, Sean Carey, and Matthew McCaughan. Vernon released Bon Iver's debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago independently in July 2007. The majority of that album was...

, David Byrne
David Byrne
David Byrne may refer to:*David Byrne , musician and former Talking Heads frontman**David Byrne , his eponymous album*David Byrne , Irish footballer*David Byrne , English footballer...

 and many others and raised over $1 million dollars for AIDS relief.

RIO 2 follows the rich Brazilian musical journey from boss nova into the ‘Tropicalista’ universe envisioned by Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira , better known as Gilberto Gil or , is a Brazilian singer, guitarist, and songwriter, known for both his musical innovation and political commitment...

, Tom Zé
Tom Zé
Tom Zé is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who was influential in the Tropicália movement of 1960s Brazil. After the peak of the Tropicália period, Zé went into relative obscurity: it was only in the 1990s, when the musician and label head David Byrne discovered an album recorded...

, Gal Costa, Os Mutantes – bringing its forward-thinking global message to today’s global youth and music lovers of all ages. Artists appearing on Rio 2 include:

Alice Smith
Alice Smith
Alice Smith is an New York City-based singer, her style anchored in rock, R&B, blues, jazz and soul. Raised between Washington, D.C. and a farm in Georgia, she sang in Moomtez and Black Rock Coalition while studying History at Fordham University...

, Almaz, Aloe Blacc
Aloe Blacc
Aloe Blacc is an American soul singer, rapper, and musician.-Early career and Shine Through :...

, Angelique Kidjo
Angélique Kidjo
Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo, commonly known as Angélique Kidjo is a Grammy Award–winning Beninoise singer-songwriter and activist, noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos. Time Magazine has called her "Africa's premier diva". The BBC has...

, Apollo Nove, Atom, Bebel Gilberto
Bebel Gilberto
Bebel Gilberto is a Brazilian popular singer often associated with bossa nova. She is the daughter of João Gilberto and singer Miúcha. Her uncle is singer/composer Chico Buarque...

, Beck
Beck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...

, Beirut
Beirut (band)
Beirut is an American band which was originally the solo musical project of Santa Fe native Zachary Francis Condon, and later expanded into a band. The band's first performances were in Wollaston, United Kingdom, in May 2006, to support the release of their debut album, Gulag Orkestar...

, Brazilian Girls
Brazilian Girls
Brazilian Girls was a band from New York City known for their eclectic blend of electronic dance music with musical styles as diverse as tango, chanson, house, reggae and lounge. None of the members are actually from Brazil and the only female in the band is Sabina Sciubba. Other members include...

, Carlinhos Brown
Carlinhos Brown
Carlinhos Brown is a Brazilian musician from Salvador, Bahia. He was born in Candeal Pequeno, a small neighbourhood in the Brotas area of Salvador de Bahia...

, Caetano Veloso
Caetano Veloso
Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso , better known as Caetano Veloso, is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo which encompassed theatre, poetry and music in the 1960s,...

, Céu
CEU
CEU may refer to:*Continuing education units in the United States*Central European University in Budapest, Hungary*College of Eastern Utah*Centro Escolar University in the Philippines*Centro de Estudios Universitarios in Spain...

, Clara Moreno, Cults
Cults (band)
Cults is an indie pop band from Manhattan, New York. The band first drew to prominence when they posted a three song EP, Cults 7", on their Bandcamp page.-History:...

, Curumin
Curumin
Curumin is a Brazilian musician whose style incorporates elements of samba, funk, jazz, bossa nova, and hip hop. He sings in Portuguese, and his first album, Achados E Perdidos, was released on September 20, 2005 on the Quannum Projects label...

, Devendra Banhart
Devendra Banhart
Devendra Obi Banhart is a singer-songwriter and visual artist. Banhart was born in Houston, Texas and was raised by his mother in Venezuela, until he moved to California as a teenager. He began to study at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1998, but dropped out to perform music in Europe, San...

, DJ Dolores, Emicida, Fernanda Takai
Fernanda Takai
Fernanda Barbosa Takai is a Brazilian singer, better known as the lead vocalist of rock band Pato Fu...

, Forró In The Dark, Fred 04, Garotas Suecas, Gogol Bordello
Gogol Bordello
Gogol Bordello is a Gypsy punk band from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, formed in 1999 and known for theatrical stage shows and persistent touring.Much of the band's sound is inspired by Gypsy music...

, Isaar, Javelin, John Legend
John Legend
John Roger Stephens , better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer, musician, and actor. He is the recipient of nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.Prior to the release of his debut album, Stephens' career...

, José González
José González
José González is a Swedish-Argentine indie folk singer-songwriter and guitarist from Gothenburg, Sweden.González is also a member of Swedish band Junip, along with Elias Araya and Tobias Winterkorn.- Biography :...

, Joyce, Los Van Van
Los Van Van
Los Van Van is a Cuban band led by bassist Juan Formell, it is one of the most recognized post-revolution Cuban bands, while Juan Formell has arguably become the most important figure in contemporary Cuban music....

, Marcos Valle
Marcos Valle
Marcos Kostenbader Valle is a Brazilian singer, songwriter and record producer. He has produced works in many musical styles, including bossa nova, samba, incidental music and fusions of American/European rock, soul and dance music with Brazilian styles.-Biography:Valle's talent was evident from...

, Marina Gasolina, Madlib
Madlib
Otis Jackson Jr. in Oxnard, California, known professionally as Madlib, is a Los Angeles-based DJ, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, and music producer...

, Marisa Monte
Marisa Monte
Marisa de Azevedo Monte is a Brazilian popular singer. As of 2011, she has sold 10 million albums worldwide.- Biography :...

, Mayra Andrade
Mayra Andrade
Mayra Andrade is a Cape Verdean singer who lives and records in Paris, France.Andrade was born in Cuba but grew up in Senegal, Angola, and Germany. However, she spent around two months of the year in the Cape Verdean island of Santiago...

, Mia Doi Todd
Mia Doi Todd
Mia Doi Todd is a musician from Los Angeles, California, United States.Mia has collaborated with rock, electronica, and hip-hop musicians, contributing her voice to works by Dntel, Beachwood Sparks, Nobody, Adventure Time, Frausdots, Folk Implosion, The Mission, Saul Williams, Prefuse 73, Flying...

, Money Mark
Money Mark
Mark Ramos-Nishita aka Money Mark is a producer and musician who has collaborated with the Beastie Boys many times. He also appears on the first Banyan album in 1997 as the "Freeway Keyboardist".-Career:...

, Moreno Veloso
Moreno Veloso
Moreno Veloso is a Brazilian musician and singer. He is one of the sons of the Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso and his first wife Andréa Gadelha Veloso. Brazilian singer Gal Costa is Moreno Veloso's godmother.Veloso studied physics at a university but turned instead to music and singing...

, N.A.S.A., Of Montreal
Of Montreal
Of Montreal is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. It was founded by frontman Kevin Barnes in 1996, named after a failed romance with a woman "of Montreal." The band is one of the bands of the Elephant 6 collective...

, Om'mas Keith, Orq. Contemporânea de Olinda, Os Mutantes
Os Mutantes
Os Mutantes ) are an influential Brazilian psychedelic rock band that were linked with the Tropicália movement of the late 1960s. It was formed by two brothers and a vocalist, but has gone through numerous personnel changes throughout its existence...

, Otto, Phenomenal Handclap Band, Prefuse 73, Quadron
Quadron
Quadron is a Danish duo consisting of singer Coco Maja Hastrup Karshøj and musician/producer Robin Hannibal. The group calls itself and the music they provide, electronic soul....

, Rodrigo Amarante
Rodrigo Amarante
Rodrigo Amarante de Castro Neves , in is a guitarist, occasional bassist, singer and songwriter for the bands Los Hermanos, Orquestra Imperial and Little Joy....

, Rita Lee
Rita Lee
Rita Lee Jones Carvalho , simply known as Rita Lee, is a Brazilian rock singer and composer. Lee continues to be a popular figure in Brazilian entertainment, where she is also known for being an animal rights activist and a vegetarian...

, Secousse, Seu Jorge
Seu Jorge
Seu Jorge is a Brazilian musician, singer/songwriter and actor. Born Jorge Mário da Silva, he was raised in a favela in the city of Belford Roxo in the Baixada Fluminense region of Rio de Janeiro state. He is considered by his fans a renewer of Brazilian pop samba...

, Super Human Happiness, Tha Boogie, Thalma de Freitas, Thank Frank, Tom Zé
Tom Zé
Tom Zé is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who was influential in the Tropicália movement of 1960s Brazil. After the peak of the Tropicália period, Zé went into relative obscurity: it was only in the 1990s, when the musician and label head David Byrne discovered an album recorded...

, Toshiyuki Yasuda
Toshiyuki Yasuda
Japanese electronic artist and composer Toshiyuki Yasuda was born in 1973 in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture in Japan, and is a former member of Fantastic Plastic Machine.-Background:...

, Trio Mocotó
Trio Mocoto
Trio Mocotó is a Brazilian band, originally formed in 1968 in the Jogral nightclub in São Paulo, and reformed in 2000. The group was influential in forming the musical style that became known as samba rock or samba soul...

, Twin Danger, and Vanessa da Mata
Vanessa da Mata
Vanessa da Mata - with full name Vanessa Sigiane da Mata Ferreira - is a Latin Grammy Award-winning Brazilian MPB singer, songwriter...

.

Rio 2 was reviewed by critics to high acclaim. The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....

 noted that the album possessed "unusual collaboration and combinations" that would solidify Red Hot's place "in the musical landscape."

The Denver Post
The Denver Post
-Ownership:The Post is the flagship newspaper of MediaNews Group Inc., founded in 1983 by William Dean Singleton and Richard Scudder. MediaNews is today one of the nation's largest newspaper chains, publisher of 61 daily newspapers and more than 120 non-daily publications in 13 states. MediaNews...

 stated that the album was full of "summery, breezy songs" that alternately "surprises and triumphs" and ultimately deemed it "one of the most listenable records to come across our desk in months."

The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...

 noted the success of Red Hot on a number of different letters by stating, "The Red Hot albums are really a double public service: they bring the world into your music player, and they keep hope alive." They concluded by urging readers to "Buy "Red Hot + Rio 2" now. It's cheaper than a ticket to South America, and it's more uplifting than reading the latest AIDS stats."

Staff

John Carlin career began in the early 1980s as a Professor of Art and Popular Culture. During this period, he published numerous articles in the fields of art and literature, served as the lead art critic for Paper Magazine, and curated museum exhibitions related to pop culture at many venues, including the Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...

. In 1987, John began practicing entertainment law at the New York firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is a law firm headquartered on Sixth Avenue in New York City. The firm has well-noted expertise in its corporate, personal representation, entertainment law and litigation practices, having long been a leader among national litigation firms...

, representing corporate clients ranging from EMI Music, SBK Records
SBK Records
SBK Records was a record label of the EMI Group that was founded in 1988.Stephen Swid, Martin Bandier, and Charles Koppelman formed the production company SBK in 1989 after they purchased the music publishing division of CBS Records in 1986....

 and Revlon
Revlon
Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company founded in 1932.-History:Revlon was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, 1932, by Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with a chemist, Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in the Revlon name...

 to artists like Jonathan Demme
Jonathan Demme
Robert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. Best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director, he has also directed the acclaimed movies Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married, the Talking Heads concert movie Stop...

, Richard Hell
Richard Hell
Richard Hell is a singer, songwriter, bass guitarist, and writer.Richard Hell was an innovator of punk music and fashion. He was one of the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins...

, Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman is an American comics artist, editor, and advocate for the medium of comics, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic book memoir, Maus. His works are published with his name in lowercase: art spiegelman.-Biography:Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to Polish Jews...

 and David Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz was a painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, and activist who was prominent in the New York City art world of the 1980s.-Biography:...

. In 1990, John left the law firm to found the Red Hot Organization. Carlin also founded Funny Garbage, one of the leading interactive development companies in the world, whose clients include MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 Networks, Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....

, Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...

, Crayola
Crayola
Crayola is a brand of artists' supplies manufactured by Crayola LLC, which was founded in 1885 as Binney & Smith. It is best known for its crayons...

, The Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

, PBS, The City of New York, The School of Visual Arts
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts , is a proprietary art school located in Manhattan, New York City, and is widely considered to be one of the leading art schools in the United States. It was established in 1947 by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and...

 and many others.

Paul Heck has been involved in the making of nearly a dozen Red Hot albums, including his first project, No Alternative
No Alternative
-Home video track listing:# Matthew Sweet "Superdeformed"#*directed by Kevin Kerslake# Neneh Cherry "Athens, Georgia 1993"#*directed by Jim McKay & Michael Stipe# Urge Overkill "Take a Walk"#*directed by Matt Mahurin...

 (1993), which featured such prominent rock artists as Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...

, Smashing Pumpkins, Sarah McLachlan
Sarah McLachlan
Sarah Ann McLachlan, OC, OBC is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter. Known for her emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano vocal range, as of 2006, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards and four...

, and Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....

. He was also co-producer (with the Dessner twins of The National
The National (band)
The National is an indie rock band formed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1999 and currently based in Brooklyn, New York. The band's lyrics are written and sung by Matt Berninger, a baritone...

) of "Dark Was the Night
Dark Was the Night
Dark Was the Night is the twentieth compilation release benefiting the Red Hot Organization, an international charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS...

"
Red Hot's latest successful album and a concert involving upcoming indie rock bands. Paul also produces the series of Red Hot themed live concerts that appeared as a part of TheNext Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, United States, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance....

. Paul also works as a music supervisor for film/TV and develops music strategies and solutions for international brands.

Béco Dranoff
Béco Dranoff (music producer)
Béco Dranoff is the Brazilian music and film producer and founder of the Ziriguiboom music label.-Early career:...

, recently named one of New York’s Most Influential Brazilians by Vogue Magazine, was born in São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...

 and has over 20 years of experience promoting Brazilian music around the world. He helped launch the international careers of artists such as Bebel Gilberto
Bebel Gilberto
Bebel Gilberto is a Brazilian popular singer often associated with bossa nova. She is the daughter of João Gilberto and singer Miúcha. Her uncle is singer/composer Chico Buarque...

, Cibelle
Cibelle
Cibelle is a multi-media performance artist, singer-songwriter and music producer. Cibelle’s music is difficult to classify; she has been called a self-styled purveyor of “Tropical Punk”.-Biography:...

, Apollo Nove, DJ Dolores, earning his projects several Grammy nominations. He was co-producer of Red Hot’s first Rio album "Red Hot + Rio
Red Hot + Rio
Red Hot + Rio is a compilation album produced by Paul Heck as part of the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series intended to promote AIDS awareness. This installment is a contemporary tribute to the Bossa nova sound, especially the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim...

"
and is part of the production team on the follow-up, "Red Hot + Rio 2", to be released in the Spring of 2011.

Lorraine Goodman acts as Director of Operations & Philanthropy. After a twenty-year career spanning Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

, ("The Mystery of Edwin Drood
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
The Mystery of Edwin Drood is the final novel by Charles Dickens. The novel was left unfinished at the time of Dickens' death, and his intended ending for it remains unknown. Though the novel is named after the character Edwin Drood, the story focuses on Drood's uncle, choirmaster John Jasper, who...

," "Les Miserables
Les Misérables
Les Misérables , translated variously from the French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, or The Victims), is an 1862 French novel by author Victor Hugo and is widely considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century...

" and "Master Class
Master Class
Master Class is a play by Terrence McNally, with incidental music by Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, and Vincenzo Bellini.The play originally was staged by the Philadelphia Theatre Company and the Mark Taper Forum. After twelve previews, the Broadway production, directed by Leonard Foglia, opened...

") Opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

,("La Traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...

," "Susannah
Susannah
Susannah is an opera in two acts by American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the Elders, though the latter story has a more positive ending...

," "The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw is a novella written by Henry James. Originally published in 1898, it is ostensibly a ghost story.Due to its ambiguous content, it became a favourite text of academics who subscribe to New Criticism. The novella has had differing interpretations, often mutually exclusive...

" "La Boheme
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...

," etc) Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

 and some of Europe’s greatest stages,(Ronacher Theater -- "Cats," Theatre an der Wien, Neue Flora Theater -- "Das Phantom der Oper," and others) Ms. Goodman obtained her Master of Performing Arts Administration at NYU, Steinhart. Her eleemosynary efforts include facilitation of a $250,000 grant from the Soros Foundation on behalf of Gatewave Radio Network for the Blind. Her efforts on behalf of AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 began as far back as 1986, when she participated in the first ever Broadway Cares Easter Bonnet Contest. She began working with Red Hot in March, 2010 and currently directs the philanthropic department.

Discography

  • Red Hot + Blue
    Red Hot + Blue
    Red Hot + Blue is the first in the series of compilation albums from the Red Hot Organization. The recording was the first in the Red Hot Benefit Series...

    (1990)
  • Red Hot + Dance
    Red Hot + Dance
    Red Hot + Dance is an album produced by the Red Hot Organization, an organization dedicated to raising money and awareness to fight the onslaught of HIV/AIDS....

    (1992)
  • No Alternative
    No Alternative
    -Home video track listing:# Matthew Sweet "Superdeformed"#*directed by Kevin Kerslake# Neneh Cherry "Athens, Georgia 1993"#*directed by Jim McKay & Michael Stipe# Urge Overkill "Take a Walk"#*directed by Matt Mahurin...

    (1993)
  • Red Hot + Country
    Red Hot + Country
    Red Hot + Country was the follow-up to No Alternative in the Red Hot Series of compilation albums, a series produced to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues...

    (1994)
  • Red Hot + Cool: Stolen Moments (1994)
  • Red Hot + Bothered
    Red Hot + Bothered
    Red Hot + Bothered is an anthology of the indie rock scene from the 1990s produced by Paul Heck. It was released as part of the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series....

    (1995)
  • Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip
    Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip
    Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip is a compilation album from the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series produced by Paul Heck. It combines elements of ambient, spoken word, and trip hop to expand the ideas of artistic collage and spiritual transcendence of "the Beats"...

    (1996)
  • America Is Dying Slowly
    America Is Dying Slowly
    America Is Dying Slowly is a compilation album, the eighth in the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series of recorded by the Red Hot Organization...

    (1996)
  • Red Hot + Rio
    Red Hot + Rio
    Red Hot + Rio is a compilation album produced by Paul Heck as part of the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series intended to promote AIDS awareness. This installment is a contemporary tribute to the Bossa nova sound, especially the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim...

    (1996)
  • Red Hot + Latin: Silencio = Muerte (1997)
  • Red Hot + Lisbon: Onda Sonora
    Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon
    Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon is the eleventh entry in the Red Hot Benefit Series of compilation albums. The album and related television special were both created by the Red Hot Organization , an international organization whose objective in this project is to raise AIDS awareness in the...

    (1998)
  • Red Hot + Rhapsody (1998)
  • Optic Nerve
    Optic Nerve (1999)
    Optic Nerve is an interactive, CD-ROM showcasing the life and work of multimedia artist David Wojnarowicz. The disc includes film, interviews, music, performance, painting and writing from the artist. The release is the first entry in the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series with a non-musical focus...

    (1999)
  • Red Hot + Indigo
    Red Hot + Indigo
    Red Hot + Indigo is the 13th entry from the Red Hot AIDS benefit series of compilation albums produced by Paul Heck. It marks the tenth anniversary of the Red Hot Organization , an international organization which uses mass media as a fundraising tool for its efforts at increasing public AIDS...

    (2000)
  • Red Hot + Riot: The Music and Spirit of Fela Kuti
    Red Hot + Riot: The Music and Spirit of Fela Kuti
    Red Hot + Riot is the fourteenth in a series of music compilation projects produced by Paul Heck of the Red Hot Organization to be used as a fundraising tool for AIDS awareness efforts...

    (2002)
  • Dark Was The Night
    Dark Was the Night
    Dark Was the Night is the twentieth compilation release benefiting the Red Hot Organization, an international charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS...

    (2009)
  • Red Hot + Rio 2
    Red Hot + Rio 2
    RED HOT + RIO 2, produced by Béco Dranoff, John Carlin, and Paul Heck in collaboration with U.S. label E1 Entertainment, is Red Hot Organization’s next entry into its series of tribute albums created to raise money for HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention set to be released June 28th, 2011...

    (2011)

Compilations

  • Red Hot On Impulse (1994)
  • Nova Bossa: Red Hot On Verve (1996)
  • By George (& Ira): Red Hot on Gershwin (1998)
  • Twentieth-Century Blues: The Songs of Noel Coward
    Twentieth-Century Blues: The Songs of Noel Coward
    Twentieth-Century Blues: The Songs of Noël Coward is a 1998 Noël Coward tribute album curated by Neil Tennant, who invited prominent artists of the day to reinterpret Noël Coward’s songs for the late 20th century....

    (1998)

Filmography

  • Red Hot + Blue
    Red Hot + Blue
    Red Hot + Blue is the first in the series of compilation albums from the Red Hot Organization. The recording was the first in the Red Hot Benefit Series...

    (VHS) (1990)
  • No Alternative
    No Alternative
    -Home video track listing:# Matthew Sweet "Superdeformed"#*directed by Kevin Kerslake# Neneh Cherry "Athens, Georgia 1993"#*directed by Jim McKay & Michael Stipe# Urge Overkill "Take a Walk"#*directed by Matt Mahurin...

    (VHS) (1993)
  • Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool (VHS) (1994)

Red Hot + TV

Performance Network Year
Red Hot + Blue ABC, Channel 4 (UK), others worldwide 1990
Red Hot + Dance MTV, Channel 4 (UK), others worldwide 1992
Red Hot + Country MTV, Channel 4 (UK), others worldwide 1992
No Alternative TNN 1993
Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool PBS, (Sundance Channel fall 2001) 1994
Red Hot + Rio Bravo, MTV Brazil, Much Music 1996
The Beat Experience Whitney Museum of Art 1996
Red Hot + Latin MTV Latino 1996
Red Hot + Rhapsody MTV, MTV Int'l 1998
Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon MTV Int'l 1999

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK