[Fmpro] Happy Birthday Doctor King!

[Chris Alpiar]

Stevie was a HUGE MLK activist! It was partly his song that popularized the
idea that forced the Reagan administration to create it as a national
holiday. Check him out singing it at the 2007 Dream Concert at Radio City
Music Hall, I found it on youtube. There are some there with better sound
quality from his studio recording of it, but seeing him on stage is always
better imo :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6sNSl2g15E

Martin Luther King Jr. Day was founded as a holiday promoted by labor unions
in contract negotiations.[2] After King's death, Rep. John Conyers
(D-Michigan) introduced a bill in Congress to make King's birthday a
national holiday, highlighting King's activism on behalf of trade unionists.
The King Center turned to support from the corporate community and the
general public. The success of this strategy was cemented when musician
Stevie Wonder released the single "Happy Birthday" to popularize the
campaign in 1980 and hosted the Rally for Peace Press Conference in 1981.
Six million signatures were collected for a petition to Congress to pass the
law, termed by a 2006 The Nation article as "...the largest petition in
favor of an issue in United States History"[3]

________________________________

Christopher Kennedy Alpiar
Cinematic Composer 
1280 Lytle Lane 
Dayton, OH 45409 
310.339.9603 (Los Angeles) 
937-294-0900 (Dayton) 
chris at alpiar.com 
________________________________

 
> 
> I had no idea until today [via a radio station owned by 
> Stevie Wonder] that Happy Birthday was written for Martin Luther King.
> 
> Apologies for the ignorance, but what a fanfare for the man 
> everytime it is sung/broadcast.