"A Very Special Christmas"

HALL OF FAME

BECAUSE, alter acclaimed record producer and music executive Jimmy Iovine's father died in 1985 at Christmastime and Iovine wanted to honor his memory, he produced A Very Special Christmas—a. CD to benefit the Special Olympics, the organization that provides sports training and competition for mentally challenged children and adults, BECAUSE Iovine's wife, Vicki—then a volunteer with the Special Olympics—Jimmy, and their friend Bobby Shriver (whose mother, Eunice, founded the organization in 1968) called everyone for a year to get the record done, BECAUSE those who answered the calls and recorded songs for the first disc included Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston, U2, and Stevie Nicks, BECAUSE, since that first Iovine-motivated CD, with its distinctive Keith Haring artwork, there have been four others (all on A&M, now part of the Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, where Iovine is chairman), with such stars as Mary J. Blige, Aretha Franklin, and Stevie Wonder—and a total of $75 million raised for the Special Olympics, BECAUSE, every four years, the Special Olympics holds World Summer Games (in 2003 they'll be held in Dublin), and, says Bobby Shriver, there are plans to do a sixth Christmas CD: "Maybe bluegrass this time."

LISA ROBINSON