T. J. Martell Foundation: Music Leads the March Against Deadly Diseases
By Bob Doerschuk

© 2007 CMA Close Up News Service / Country Music Association, Inc.

You might think that the T. J. Martell Foundation's greatest contribution to combating leukemia, cancer and AIDS is financial.

You would, however, be wrong, according to Tony Martell, the record industry veteran who launched this organization more than 30 years ago and is the Foundation's Chairman of the Board.

"I was visiting Mount Sinai [Hospital, in New York]," he recalled, "and this patient grabbed my hand and said, 'I know about your Foundation. You give us something that you probably don't even know.' I thought for a minute and said, 'What is that?' "And he said, 'You give us hope.'"

It is impossible to calculate how many people have benefited from this gift. More material results are easier to trace, which include paying for advances in combating lung cancer and adult leukemia as well as raising the survival rate for children with cancer of the eyes - neuroblastoma - from 18 to more than 90 percent.

Working on several fronts, from fundraising to connecting researchers working on similar projects, the Foundation draws much of its energy from the musical community, which Martell has served through a career that includes service as head of Associated Labels at Epic Records and Senior VP and GM of Epic/Associated Labels at Sony Music.

Its motivation, though, comes from closer to home. Shortly before his son T. J., 21, succumbed to myeloblastic leukemia in 1975, Martell promised that he would raise $1 million toward seeking its cure. Since then, the Foundation has earned and invested nearly $240 million, making strides in particular toward eliminating the threat of the disease that took T. J.'s life.

The first step down this path was a big one: an all-star jazz jam session at the home of drumming legend Buddy Rich, with Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman and other swing-era giants. The audience ponied up $50,000 for the privilege of witnessing their 90-minute summit.

Since then artists of all styles have contributed their time and talent to this cause. For many, the motivation came from close to home. When Mötley Crüe vocalist Vince Neil lost his 4-year-old daughter Skylar Lynnae to Wilms' tumor, he began an ongoing effort to cure this rare form of kidney cancer, through his own organizations as well as the Foundation. In November, Neil will host his third annual poker tournament in Las Vegas followed by his Rock 'n' Roll Cruise in January, with both events benefiting the Foundation. For all artists who have supported the Foundation, though, Martell sensed a common denominator.

"They're musicians," he said. "They have feelings. When I think of artists who've performed for us, from Neil Diamond to Barbra Streisand and Bruce Springsteen, they all have such open hearts. I've been in the music business for 42 years. I thought I knew musicians until the Foundation came along, and then I saw how generous and caring they are. They really want to do something good."

Yet even within these circles, the commitments made by Country artists have been outstanding. "You talk about heart?" Martell asked. "Country folk have the biggest hearts going. Words can't describe how generous these people can be." Their involvement owes much to the efforts the Foundation's Nashville Board members, including BMI President Emeritus Frances Preston, who lives in New York and serves as the Foundation's Board President, and Tony Conway, President of Buddy Lee Attractions in Nashville, who also serves as Executive Producer of CMA Music Festival.

"There were several reasons why I joined the Board," Conway said, "but I did watch my former associate Buddy Lee suffer through cancer until he died. I just wanted to give something back to the community."

As Conway remembered, "Tony's instructions were to do events to raise money where people have fun." This inspired Preston to come up with Country in the Rockies, an annual retreat during which donors enjoy a week of skiing, snowboarding and dining at Steamboat Springs, Colo., with entertainment provided by an assembly of Country artists. Another idea took shape five years later: the Best Cellars wine dinner, whose attendees savor a five-course gourmet meal, with a well-known Country performer and a wine steward at each table. At the eighth annual dinner in April, at Nashville's Loews Vanderbilt Hotel, food was prepared by John Fleer, formerly chef at Blackberry Farm in Walden, Tenn., with Blue County, Brooks & Dunn, Terri Clark, Martina McBride, Montgomery Gentry and LeAnn Rimes among the celebrity guests, all at a cost of $800 per participant.

In the two years since Conway began his tenure as President of the Foundation's
Nashville Division Board of Directors, two new events have helped channel more money into their budget. The Celebrity Tablescapes exhibit unveils table settings, from the elegant to the whimsical, conceived by Country artists. Each table will feature a special theme and will include unique auction items for patrons to purchase at a VIP reception for $100 on Monday, Sept. 24 and a luncheon the next day, for $75, at the Hilton Nashville Downtown.

And this year's Celebrity Cake Decorating Competition, held in July at
Nashville's Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, showed off the pastry prestidigitations of Country notables whose designs reflected a theme from one of their songs.

"Eddie Montgomery and his wife Tracy did 'Lucky Man,'" reported T. J. Martell
Foundation Executive Director Laura Heatherly. "Troy Gentry and his wife Angie
featured 'Something to Be Proud Of.' Aaron Tippin and his wife Thea did 'Ain't Nothin' Wrong with the Radio.' Dean Sams and Michael Britt of Lonestar chose 'Mountains.' And Julie Roberts and her mom Sandra - this was a hoot - their theme was 'Men and Mascara.'"

The Foundation's activities led them as well to CMA Music Festival, with its second annual Ride for a Cure featuring Little Big Town and 250 motorcyclists rolling from the Harley-Davidson store in Cool Springs, Tenn., and up Interstate 65 to the Country Music Hall of Fame Park for a barbecue and auction timed to coincide with the end of the Festival's Kick-Off Parade on June 6.

To honor his contributions through these and other activities, music industry leaders in Nashville hosted a reception at BMI and a lunch for Martell at The Palm restaurant in May. Attendees at the luncheon included Conway, Preston, and artists Blue County, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Jamie Johnson of The Grascals, Gary Morris, Megan Mullins and Charlie Daniels, a longtime friend of Martell's and a prostate cancer survivor himself.

"I've got four cancer survivors in my outfit," Daniels explained. "And I'll never forget when I got called and told that my biopsy had come back positive. Every time you turn around, somebody else has got it. I don't know what causes it. But I do know we're making headway against it. And of course you have a special feeling for people who do that after you've been through the experience. Certainly, Tony is a special guy."

That has come to ring true for Martell in recent years too, but the effect has only been to steel his determination to help target and tame these diseases.

"I have bladder cancer," he said. "I was in a very precarious way for a while. But I had it beat from the beginning. I always say: Weeds don't die.

On the Web: http://www.tjmartellfoundation.org/