NEW YORK -- When Essence decided to stage a concert extravaganza to celebrate their 25th anniversary in 1995, officials at the black women's magazine were a little worried about the festival's prospects.
"Essence had never produced a concert before," Susan Taylor, Essence's editorial director, said of the concert, which was held in New Orleans over the Fourth of July weekend. "We weren't all that sure that it would be the tremendous success that it was."
This week, Essence will be celebrating another milestone as it marks the 10th year of the music festival, which is expected to draw more than 150,000 fans from across the nation. More than just a concert, the event provides a spiritual and educational component to the event as well, making it a "Party With a Purpose," as they like to call it.
"I try and go every time I can," says Prince, one of this year's performers. "It's just too much good energy, too much positive energy not to get a part of it."
The festival will be held at the Superdome and other venues. Prince kicks off the festivities Friday night; other performers include Mary J. Blige, LL Cool J, gospel star Donnie McClurkin, Gladys Knight, and a reunited New Edition (sans Bobby Brown).
Essence never intended the 1995 celebration to be a yearly event; the first concert, which featured Aretha Franklin, Luther Vandross, B.B. King and Patti LaBelle among others, was billed as a one-time event.
"We thought it would be a magnificent way to celebrate to have the largest selection of black talent that the nation had ever seen, and to have our readers join us," Taylor said.
But it drew 150,000 fans who wanted more.
"We heard from readers and folks that had attended and asked us to please, please keep it going, because it was the best thing they had ever attended," Taylor said.
About 1.5 million people have attended the festival over the years. Not only are there superstars performing each night, but there are "superlounges" featuring oldie acts or those who have yet to hit the mainstream.
"It has such a diverse schedule of artists and stuff, it's just everybody you can think of. You see people that you didn't even know was still around," said Frankie Beverly of the veteran soul act Maze, who have closed out the festival every year.
Most of the acts jibe with the positive, uplifting message Essence tries to project. But there have been aberrations.
In 1999, R. Kelly was among the headliners. Known for material that runs from the sexually explicit to inspirational, Kelly chose to focus on the raw side of his repertoire, including a segment in which he was to invite a female audience member onto a bed onstage. The performance angered some, and the festival producers stopped the performance. Kelly never appeared again.
Taylor said organizers try to make sure that the acts adhere with the family-friendly atmosphere.
"That's always been the idea behind the music festival, that we didn't want people to not feel comfortable bringing their children or their grandparents," she says.
In 1996, Essence threatened to pull the festival out of New Orleans when then-Gov. Mike Foster announced plans to end affirmative action programs in Louisiana. Foster backed off.
"We're a company who looks at the bottom line very critically, but that's not all we look at," Taylor said. "We really decided that we were going to take the financial loss and we were not going to go into a city and empower a governor who was trying to disempower our people."
Empowerment is a major aspect of the festival. While the concerts are a major draw, thousands also go to seminars and lectures on such topics as relationships and spirituality.
There's also an activist component of the festival. There will a push to register voters - Democratic booster Donna Brazile is expected to attend - while there will also be discussions on how to combat negative images of black women, particularly the hyper-sexualized ones seem in many black music videos.
It's unlikely there will be any such images this weekend, with a cleaned-up Prince as the main draw and acts such as Blige, who preaches the gospel in between hits.
"The music festival, that's the party," said motivational speaker and author Iyanla Vanzant, who's attended the festival off and on since its beginning. "People really come out to have good healthy, wholesome fun."
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