The worlds of country music and rock n’ roll collided Sunday afternoon at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation when legends Vince Gill and Alice Cooper took the stage to raise money for cancer research.
The two musical superstars joined forces at OMRF’s annual 241—“Two events for one great cause”—music and wine festival. Approximately 500 people attended the event, which generated more than $640,000 in donations.
The fundraising event featured food and drink from nine local restaurants, eight wineries and one brewery. Following a set from Gill, who grew up in Oklahoma City, the event culminated in the two superstars taking the stage together to belt out Chuck Berry’s classic “Nadine.”
Both singers volunteered their services to help the non-profit foundation.
“We’re incredibly lucky to have friends like Vince Gill and Alice Cooper,” said OMRF President Stephen Prescott, M.D. “They’ve chosen to use their considerable talents not only to bring joy to audiences but to make a difference in the battle against cancer.”
Event proceeds will go to support research in OMRF’s laboratories that will focus on understanding and finding new ways to treat cancers such as breast and colon cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that 8,000 Oklahomans will die of cancer this year, while state doctors will diagnose more than 19,000 new cases of the disease in 2014.
“If we’re going to change those numbers, we will have to find new therapeutic approaches,” said Prescott. “Events like this provide OMRF’s scientists with the resources to continue the search for new cancer treatments.”
