2008 World Athletics Gala Logo (© IAAF.org)
MonteCarloThe World Athletics Gala, which includes the announcements of the Male and the Female World Athlete of the Year 2008, will be hosted on Sunday 23 November at the Salle des Etoiles of the Sporting Club d’Eté, Monte-Carlo by International Athletic Foundation (IAF) Honorary President HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco and IAF & IAAF President Lamine Diack.
As well as the end of season awards, video highlights of the best action from the athletics year including the Beijing Olympic Games and all 2008 IAAF championships, interviews with star athletes, and sparkling musical entertainment from singer Lalah Hathaway and the Jamaican band the ‘Fabulous Five’, will make this an Athletics night to remember.
Entertaining the audience of over 600 guests, which will include dozens of Olympic and World champions and record holders, who will be present on the night in the Salle des Etoiles, the two musical acts are gold medal performers in their own field.
Soul singer Donny Hathaway's daughter Lalah cut her debut album in 1990, a recording which was highly acclaimed, and in her four albums since then, firstly for Virgin and then Stax records, her rich voice has earned her a reputation for versatility, as she has trod paths of neo-soul, acid jazz, R'nB, and even gospel.
The ‘Fab 5’, formed in 1970, are Jamaica's pre-eminent popular band, whether measured by record sales at home, hits on the charts, frequency of engagements or major awards won over the decades. In their early years, their musicality and showmanship made them the rage on the dance and show circuits, and 19 albums later they are still on the very top of their musical game with a greatest hits album recently released.
IAAF