Dionne Warwick, Paul Anka head up UNLV Hall of Fame honorees
Icons will rule the night as the UNLV College of Fine Arts Hall of Fame induction dinner returns to its full-capacity gala Tuesday night at Student Union Ballroom.
Entertainment legends Dionne Warwick and Paul Anka head up the list of inductees for the Hall of Fame’s 18th presentation. The event was sidelined in 2020 and moved to a limited-capacity show last year, when the list of honorees was headed up by Ann-Margret. Tuesday’s event is sold out.
Neither Warwick nor Anka are not able to attend, however. Anka is touring. Warwick is still limited after injuring her shin recently in a fall in her home in New York. Warwick will address the event via video. The superstar is currently in long-term residency at the Stirling Club at Turnberry Place.
Anka headlined at the Smith Center last month, marking the venue’s 10th anniversary.
“I am honored and very touched to be an inductee for UNLV this year. Las Vegas has been a big part of my career and means a lot to me, so this award is received with sincere gratitude,” Anka said in a statement Tuesday. “When I look back at my arrival in Vegas in the 50s, I am amazed and proud to see the city it has become today - the true entertainment capital of the world. To be a part of that and to be recognized in a place that will always feel like home is a big deal for me.”
Ballet dancer Cynthia Gregory, and the late actor and visiting UNLV professor Michael Tylo also are being inducted.
Those receiving the Koep Dean’s Medal are renowned musician, composer arranger and UNLV jazz music director Dave Loeb; Southern Pauite artist and activist Fawn Douglas; and jazz trumpet virtuoso, arranger and composer Kenny Rampton. The honor is named for former UNLV Dean of the College of Fine Arts Jeff Koep.
This year’s honoree as Alumna of the Year is Cooper Rust, who earned her Bachelor’s degree in dance in 2013 while performing with Nevada Ballet Theatre. Rust went on to create Artists for Africa, which serves more than 1,200 Kenyan children.
The Hall of Fame was established in 2003 to honor past and present figures who have made an impact in visual arts, performing arts, and/or architecture. Past inductees include entertainment legends Tony Curtis; Phyllis McGuire; Robert Goulet; The Killers; Wayne Newton; Liberace; Clint Holmes; Rich Little; Penn & Teller; Lance Burton; Siegfried & Roy; and architects Tony Marnell; John Klai; Tom Schoeman and William Snyder.
“We are so thrilled to have an in-person 18th annual Hall of Fame,” UNLV Dean of the College of Fine Arts Nancy Uscher said in a statement. “It’s a joyous occasion when we can gather and celebrate the arts and entertainment.”
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Inductees for the 18th UNLV Hall of Fame Induction Dinner, scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday at the UNLV Student Union Ballroom (the event is sold out). Bios furnished by the UNLV PR department:
Dionne Warwick is a six-time Grammy Award-winning music legend who has earned more than 75 charted hit songs and sold over 100 million records. Discovered by Burt Bacharach and Hal David in 1961, she went on to record 18 consecutive Top 100 singles. She continues to share her incomparable singing talents with her adoring fans.
At an early age, Paul Anka knew he was born to entertain. He was the youngest to ever perform at the Copacabana. In addition, he is the most prolific and versatile songwriter of any generation. He is the only artist to have a CD on the Billboard Top 100 chart for seven consecutive decades, and he continues to wow audiences with his artistry.
Cynthia Gregory is recognized as one of the world's greatest ballerinas and one whom Rudolf Nureyev described as, "America's prima ballerina assoluta." Trained on the West Coast, she moved to New York City in 1965 to join the American Ballet Theater where she quickly established herself as a major ballerina. After dancing for 26 years, she now focuses on sharing her experience, expertise, inspiration, and love for the art of dance.
Michael Tylo had a long and distinguished stage and screen career. Best known for his starring role on Guiding Light as Quinton Chamberlain, he also starred in All My Children, The Young & Restless, and other made-for-television series. In 2003, he devoted his time to teaching as a visiting professor in theatre and film at UNLV, serving as assistant dean for the College of Fine Arts, and most recently taught acting for UNLV's film department.
Fawn Douglas is an Indigenous American "artivist" and an enrolled member of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe. Within her art-making and activism, she tells stories to remember her past and to ensure that the stories of Indigenous peoples are heard in the present. She is currently working on her MFA degree with the department of art at UNLV.
David Loeb is director of the Division of Jazz and Commercial Music and a professor of music at UNLV's College of Fine Arts School of Music. A pianist, musical director, conductor, composer, and arranger, he has performed with many headliners on the Las Vegas Strip. Under his direction, UNLV Jazz students have won 33 DownBeat Student Music Awards since 2010, and have been invited to perform at the acclaimed Monterey Jazz Festival.
Kenny Rampton, NYC-based trumpet player, arranger, and composer, is a full-time member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and is the man behind the iconic sound of the trumpet on the television show Sesame Street.
Cooper Rust earned her BFA in Dance and BA in History from UNLV in 2013 while dancing for Nevada Ballet Theatre. After graduating, a working trip to Kenya in 2012 inspired her to create a non-profit organization to support arts education in East Africa. Today, Artists for Africa serves more than 1,200 Kenyan children. There, she inspires students through her love of the arts.
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