Smokey Robinson, Ken Sunshine Set for Lifetime Achievement Awards

Forget Halloween, Rev. Al Sharpton has other plans this evening.

The founder and president of the National Action Network is hosting a starry 70th birthday party tonight in Century City, but rather than have the focus be on his milestone birthday, Sharpton and his team have zeroed in on honorees (Smokey Robinson and Ken Sunshine) and a cause (urging more people to get out and vote in Tuesday’s election).

Held at the Fairmont Century Plaza, the event will see lifetime achievement awards doled out to Robinson, a music legend who was the founder and frontman of the pioneering Motown vocal group the Miracles, and Sunshine, a veteran public relations executive, strategist and political activist. Sunshine, who had a stint in politics early in his career, founded Ken Sunshine Consultants before teaming with Shawn Sachs to launch the firm Sunshine Sachs, now known as Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis.

Both will be in attendance along with a roster of boldfaced names like Magic and Cookie Johnson, Robert F. Smith, Anthony Anderson, Cedric the Entertainer, Fabian Núñez, Antonio Villaraigosa, Sylvia Rhone and others. The fundraiser will serve to support NAN’s non-partisan Get Out the Vote campaign, which seeks to activate the org’s more than 100 chapters on the importance of showing up for the elections.

“I am honored to join a group of personal friends, who have long supported NAN, as we mark my 70th birthday this month,” Sharpton said. “After a strong showing at the Triumph Awards in New York City last week, I know this event will help future NAN’s work to inform Black voters across the nation what’s at risk when they stay home and what’s possible when they turn out at the polls. I especially want to thank Magic Johnson and Robert F. Smith for putting this event together, as they have worked with us for decades on expanding business opportunities for Black and brown Americans.”

As Sharpton mentioned, the L.A. event follows a similar bash on the East Coast where Gladys Knight, Robert De Niro, Wynton Marsalis and Carolyn “Cookie” Mason were honored. In New York, Sharpton, whose actual birthday fell on Oct. 3, also discussed the impact of the Triumph Awards from the podium.