WHAT: A panel featuring Judy Collins and other artists and recovery experts

WHERE: Sony, 550 Madison Avenue, New York, NY

WHEN: Tuesday, September 21, 10:30 am to noon

RSVP: Call 212.245.7840

Judy Collins will headline a panel of music industry women who will gather to discuss their personal experiences with addiction and recovery while navigating long careers in an industry notorious for excessive substance use and abuse. Professional expertise will also be provided by Anita Ronis, LMSW, CASAC and addictions consultant.

Addiction has taken the lives of so many rock stars whose legends have become not cautionary tales but false maps to rock and roll immortality, picked up by every impressionable wannabe rock and roller. Always at the center of whatever party is going on, band members can wind up addicted to the same poison as the headlining superstar; but with very different consequences. Financially and professionally, the abuse of cocaine, alcohol, crystal meth, prescription drugs or heroin will be more devastating to the low-salaried studio or tour musician than say, billionaires like Elton John or Ozzy Osbourne. And unlike the superstar, recovery is a very different slog for the unknown musician – forget the easy access to treatment, including expensive rehabs, recovery coaches, sober companions and more that the high-roller rocker can command – the average musician may not even have medical insurance for detox and rehab. This is where MusiCares steps in and looks after its own.

MusiCares is the social service outreach arm of The Recording Academy (The GRAMMY organization). It provides emergency financial grants and social services referrals to musicians and other music professionals in times of personal, financial or addictions crisis. MusiCares also serves as a resource to the recovery community as well as the music and entertainment communities on matters related to substance abuse and recovery, and regularly sponsors outreach forums on topics of interest to those groups.