Long Beach musician Gregg Young, leader of Gregg Young & The Second Street Band, donated the proceeds from a song he created to the children of Long Beach’s Edison Elementary School and to the Aquarium of the Pacific on Tuesday.
During a brief ceremony at the Aquarium, Young presented Jeanne Brodeur, the Aquarium’s vice president of development, Matilde Zamora, principal and Lori Grant, vice principal both of Edison Elementary, each with a check for $1,000.
The Aquarium of the Pacific plans to allocate the donation toward education funding for children grades K-12, and Edison will use the funds toward school field trips to enrich background knowledge of student’s surroundings and experiences.
The money was raised by selling CD copies of “Long Beach Summertime.”
The disk also contains two additional songs by Gregg Young and the 2nd Street Band, “Rain Cried Softly,” a Latin smooth jazz instrumental dedicated to saving the rainforests, and “Aquarium of the Pacific,” a tribute written for the 1998 grand opening of the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific.
In 2004, Young created a special song for the City of Long Beach’s float entry in the 2005 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena using the recorded the sounds of sea lions and lorikeets from the Aquarium of the Pacific and the voices of 30 students at Edison Elementary School.
By mixing those sound tracks along with music and lyrics from his Second Street Band, Young created a unique signature song for the Long Beach float. Titled “Long Beach Summertime,” the song became the official song for the Long Beach Rose Parade floats from 2005 through 2007.
“It’s an absolute privilege to be able to give back to our community, especially to one of Long Beach’s most prominent attractions and educational facilities, as well as a local school that molds the future of our children, “ said Young. “And to be able to give back as an artist also is very special.”
Young, who has been considered for several Grammy Awards, recently won the 2007 Los Angeles Music Award for Smooth Jazz Artist of the Year. Young can be contacted at (562) 433-4858 or greggyoung@earthlink.com.
