Empire Produces Lionel Ritchie and Other Entertainment for The Music Industry's A-List
For nearly a decade, Empire Entertainment has been privileged to enjoy a strategic partnership with the world-renowned event designer, Colin Cowie. Empire serves Colin Cowie Lifestyle with industry-leading talent acquisition, entertainment production and stage management services and has worked as a part of the Colin Cowie team on extraordinary special events from the Middle East and the Caribbean to Europe and Mexico. Thus it was natural that Colin Cowie would select Empire to assist with the entertainment components for the 50th Birthday party for Island / Def Jam Records Chairman and music impresario L. A. Reid.
The party was held at the tony New York City Japanese eatery, Nobu57, and was attended by a Who's Who of the music world's A-listers.Guests for the fete included Jay-Z, John Legend, Beyoncé Knowles, Mariah Carey, Oprah Winfrey, Usher, Kenneth "Babyface" Williams, Alicia Keys, Avril Lavigne and fiancé Deryck Whibley, Ciara, Kelly Rowland, Serena Williams, Spike Lee, Rihanna, Clive Davis, Janet Jackson and Jermaine Dupri, and Sean, 'P. Diddy' Combs among others. The party began with a red carpet arrival area that led from the string of parked Bentleys and Chevy Escalades right up into one of the most sumptuous lounge environments ever created. Colin Cowie's team transformed the interior of the restaurant into a sexy and sleek nightclub complete with orange mirror dance floor, main stage and Cuban cigar lounge. The center point of the event was a series of performances by up-and-coming R&B superstar Chrisette Michelle, followed by superstar Lionel Richie who performed classic hits such as Easy, Zoom and Brick house.
After everyone sang 'Happy Birthday' Empire reset the stage and the crowd of 250 guests danced to music by DJ Cassidy until nearly 4:00AM.For this extremely high profile event, Empire Entertainment coordinated all technical elements of the entertainment, managing all entertainment production seamlessly.
When the most powerful names in entertainment want to be entertained themselves, Empire Entertainment is the producer they call.
Guests received their first taste of technological innovation at registration, where they were welcomed by name on a reactive LED screen installation covering the full width of the entry wall. A large lunch café was created with a décor scheme that incorporated custom-built, ceiling-high steel LED frames draped with foliage to create smaller, intimate restaurant-style spaces that displayed both technology and nature.
A series of breakout sessions presented content targeted to attendees’ varied interests, while imagery displayed throughout the venue showcased real-life applications of how products designed to empower developers help to unleash the power of data and reimagine possibilities that will improve our world.
Every element of Microsoft Connect(); from registration, breakfast and keynote, to lunch and evening cocktails, were custom-designed to communicate exacting brand messaging and to deliver a high-touch guest experience to this important audience. The keynote and breakout sessions were livestreamed through an onsite studio built for this purpose and content was watched online by millions around the world.
Empire is proud to collaborate with Microsoft on this annual, top-tier business communication event.
To view excerpts of Connect(); 2017, please visit https://www.microsoft.com/connectevent
