LEGENDARY R&B PERFORMER
FIGHTS ILLNESS, RAISES FUNDS FOR MDA
TUCSON, Ariz., April 18, 2008 – Will Downing, a singer and songwriter whose vibrant baritone has captivated R&B and contemporary jazz fans for two decades, is emerging from convalescence with a new outlook on life and a commitment to helping others.
From April 22 until May 7, Brooklyn-born Downing will preside over "speaking and listening engagements" in five major U.S. cities, with proceeds to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association, a voluntary health organization dedicated to eradicating muscular dystrophy and related diseases.
Downing will make appearances in Chicago (April 22); Detroit (April 24); Washington (April 29); Baltimore (TBD) and Atlanta (May 7). He will talk with fans, pose for photos, discuss his hit songs and future plans (including resuming performing later this year), and describe how he has been able to emerge from the effects of a near-catastrophic illness.
Downing, 44, learned in 2006 he has a form of the debilitating disease polymyositis. The disease kept him bedridden and barely able to move for nearly a year. Now he is on his feet, has progressed from using a walker to a cane and is anxious to resume his performing career. To date, he has produced 13 albums and, in 2002, received the International Association of African-American Music's Diamond Award. He also is a Grammy nominee and NAACP Image Award nominee.
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Even while sick, Downing completed recording his most recent and best-selling album, "After Tonight," on the Peak Records label, late last year. He said it was the hardest thing he's ever done.
"There was no such thing as completing one song in one sitting. I was just too weak," he said. "We set up a mini recording studio in my bedroom, and some days I could manage three or four lines of a song, recorded from bed. On good days I might make it into my wheelchair and record another four lines. My wife or daughter would hold the mic for me."
He attributes his perseverance and revived health to his faith in God, doctors who knew how his illness should be fought, and a highly supportive family.
"We pulled through it together," he said. "When one got finished [being his caregiver], another one would pick up."
In polymyositis, cells in the body's immune system mistakenly attack muscle fibers. The result is progressive weakness and pain in the muscles of the hips, thighs, upper arms, shoulders and neck. Fortunately, as was the case with Downing, immunosuppressant drugs often can eventually control symptoms of the illness.
MDA has been involved for years with clinical trials to test such drugs in polymyositis, which is one of more than 40 diseases covered by the organization. The Muscular Dystrophy Association supports programs of worldwide research, comprehensive patient and community services, and far-reaching professional and public health education.
MDA programs are funded almost entirely by individual private contributors.
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