LOS ANGELES – Grammy Award-winning songwriter/musician/producer and humanitarian Wyclef Jean will be honored with the prestigious Vanguard Award at the 41ST NAACP IMAGE AWARDS, broadcast live from Los Angeles’ historic Shrine Auditorium, Friday, Feb. 26 (8:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed) on FOX.
The NAACP/Ford Vanguard Award is presented to a person whose groundbreaking work increases understanding and awareness of racial and social issues. Previous honorees include Tyler Perry, Russell Simmons, Aretha Franklin, Prince, Stanley
Kramer and Steven Spielberg.
Wyclef Jean (file photo)
“The NAACP is proud to honor Wyclef Jean this year’s Vanguard Award for his continued activism and dedication,” said NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. “His passion for social justice and helping those in need should be applauded.
It was Wyclef who was on a plane shortly after the devastating earthquake hit his homeland of Haiti, and it was his dedication to the people of Haiti that helped spur all of us to donate what we could and keep the people of Haiti in our hearts and prayers.”
Wyclef Jean has effortlessly crossed genres, generations and geographic boundaries with his music. Jean’s musical journey began in Haiti where he first sang in his father’s church at age 3. At 10 years old, he moved with his family to the United States, where he formed his first serious musical collaboration, the Tranzlator Crew, with his New Jersey classmates Lauryn Hill and Pras Michel. By 1994, the Tranzlator Crew had become the Fugees, and the group enjoyed its first critical acclaim with its debut album, “Blunted On Reality.”
