Chaka Khan will receive the Vanguard Award and Kelly Rowland will be honored with the Velvet Guard Award at The Connie Orlando Foundation Presents Black Women in Music Dinner on June 12 at the Audrey Irmas Pavilion in Los Angeles.
The room will be ready by June 12, and so will the spotlight. Chaka Khan and Kelly Rowland are among the honorees for The Connie Orlando Foundation Presents Black Women in Music Dinner, scheduled for that date at the Audrey Irmas Pavilion in Los Angeles.
Khan is set to receive the Vanguard Award, an honor tied directly to her legendary music career and what organizers describe as her lasting influence across generations and genres.
Rowland will be presented with the Velvet Guard Award. The recognition is framed as a tribute to “her artistry and presence that have become woven into the fabric of culture,” delivered when she takes the stage during the event.
The dinner isn’t only built around performers. Music executive Natina Nimene will also be honored, along with veteran music journalist and Billboard editor-at-large Gail Mitchell. Producer. engineer. musician and A&R executive Ebonie Smith is on the list. as is choreographer Fatima Robinson—credited with work with Michael Jackson. Kendrick Lamar and Mary J. Blige.
Orlando, whose foundation is behind the event, wrote on Instagram: “Each of these women represents something profound, not just in music, but in the way they’ve carried themselves, led others, and left this industry better than they found it. I am so honored to celebrate them.”
The foundation’s website describes the night as a “celebration of excellence. a testament to the [Black women] trailblazers who have paved the way.” It also makes room for impact beyond music. The event will raise funds for breast cancer prevention, research and care through education, resources and support initiatives.
With awards spanning artists, executives, journalists, producers and choreographers, the dinner lines up a single message that reads in the credits as much as it does onstage: influence that endures, and work that keeps moving the industry forward.
Chaka Khan Kelly Rowland Black Women in Music Dinner Connie Orlando Foundation Vanguard Award Velvet Guard Award Audrey Irmas Pavilion Los Angeles breast cancer prevention research care