Students plan, produce, star in concert for 2,000+ guests
On Saturday, April 14, at 7 p.m. Belmont University’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business (CEMB) will present its annual Best of the Best Showcase. The show will honor the college’s benefactor and namesake Mike Curb, 2012 recipient of the Robert E. Mulloy Award of Excellence, an annual award given to an individual who has achieved a level of excellence in the music business and entertainment industries with notable service to Belmont University and the Nashville community.
During a distinguished career spanning almost five decades, Mike Curb has earned multi-faceted success as a songwriter, producer and record company owner, covering a wide range of musical styles. As an individual, he has written more than 400 songs and received countless music industry awards, including the prestigious Overall Producer of the Year Award from Billboard magazine in 1972. Curb Records, which Mike Curb founded and where he currently serves as chairman, has produced more than 300 No. 1 records and been honored by Billboard magazine as 2001 Country Music Label of the Year and Radio & Records magazine as 2005 Overall Gold Label of the Year. Curb also serves as chairman of gospel music powerhouse Word Entertainment, which was Billboard magazine’s Overall Top Imprint in that genre for 2006. In 2006, he received the lifetime achievement award at the annual Los Angeles Music Awards. In 2007, Curb was honored as Nashvillian of the Year and has received his stars on Nashville’s Music City Walk of Fame and on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In addition to his record business, Curb serves as chair of the Mike Curb Family Foundation, which supports music education and works to restore historic music industry locations. The Curb Family Foundation generously supports the greater Nashville community through contributions like The Curb Pediatric Center at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, The Curb Theater at the downtown library, the band instrument program through the Nashville Alliance for Public Education, and multiple initiatives with the Nashville Symphony including the Curb Youth Symphony and Curb Family Music Education Center. Through the Family Foundation, Mr. Curb has contributed significantly to Belmont University, providing essential studio facilities for Curb College students at Historic RCA Studio B and the newly renovated Quonset Hut. He also backed the 2003 construction of the Curb Event Center (CEC), which provides a world-class arena and facilities for Belmont Bruins athletics programs, hosts major music and entertainment events, houses offices for the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, and includes space for student-run retail businesses and the Curb Café.
The Curb Event Center is also home to the Belmont Showcase Series, which culminates every April with the Best of the Best showcase. Each year students produce six full-scale concerts in the Curb Event Center with an average of 2,000 audience members per show. By partnering with industry professionals, the Belmont Showcase Series seeks to highlight student talent onstage and backstage. The series helps further the college’s goals of providing a career-oriented and practical education while also equipping students with the tools needed to prosper in diverse work environments.
As always, Best of the Best 2012 will highlight some of Belmont’s remarkable student talent with performances from the winners of the CEMB Showcase series: Tre Houston (Urban/Pop), Haley Hamilton (Christian), Tristen Smith (Country) and Christopher Wild (Rock). Winners from the ASCAP Writers’ Night series will also perform.
Best of the Best is free and open to the public. This year’s event is sponsored by ASCAP, BMI, Bandit Lites, Clair Audio and Mediavision.
About the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business
In 1971 Belmont University created a music business program prepares young men and women for operational, administrative, creative, and technical positions in the music industry. In 2003, The Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business was established to provide educational programs of study for future entertainment industry professionals. Offering majors in Music Business, Audio Engineering Technology, Entertainment Industry Studies, and Songwriting, the college equips students with a foundation addressing the latest issues and trends in the music and entertainment industries.
