Inside City of Hope’s Spirit of Life Gala as Cher & Michael Bublé Honor Warner Records’ Tom Corson

As City of Hope’s Spirit of Life Award honoree Tom Corson shared at Wednesday night’s (Oct. 15) annual gala, the fight to cure cancer is “really a close thing to our family’s hearts.” Both the wife and son of the co-chairman and COO of Warner Records are cancer survivors.

“I’m so glad that we can all be here tonight and share those things, because many of you have been through this war and beating cancer is so important to us,” he continued.

It was a full-circle moment, as the first Spirit of Life Award recipient through the City of Hope’s Music, Film and Entertainment Industry (MFEI) group in 1973 was Warner Records chairman Mo Ostin. Corson accepted his award in front of an audience of around 1,000 attendees at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood that included a number of past Spirit of Life honorees, among them Rob Light, Sylvia Rhone, Don Passman, Neil Portnow, Charles Goldstuck, John Sykes and last year’s honoree, AEG’s Jay Marciano.

The event is expected to raise more than $6 million that will go to City of Hope’s Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer and Survivorship Programs, as well as the Cherng Family Center for Integrative Oncology. Corson noted the aftercare given to his son and wife after their cancer treatment “has been a huge part of their recovery…the battle doesn’t end when the treatment ends,” said Corson, adding that his daughter is a doctor of Chinese medicine and holistic healer. “Rehabilitation is about more than gaining physical strength. It’s about everything, the mind, the body, the spirit. This is where integrative care becomes not just helpful, but it’s essential.”

A radiant Cher presented Corson his award, praising him as a “music man,” as opposed to a “suit” at a record label. She recalled phoning him over her excitement about “DJ Play a Christmas Song,” an original song for her 2023 holiday album, Christmas. “I was so excited. I wanted to tell him, and I’ve never called a record executive in my life to tell them anything,” she said. Corson, of course, loved the tune, and the song went on to become a top 40 Pop Airplay hit, making Cher the first solo female artist to have hits on the Billboard chart spanning seven decades.

Longtime Warner Records act Michael Bublé sang in Corson’s honor, giving a spirited, humor-filled performance. Like Cher, he praised Corson after joking about the often-fractious relationship between artists and labels. “I really do love Tom,” said Bublé, whose son also is a pediatric cancer survivor. “I would want this relationship for every artist.”

Bublé, backed by a 14-piece orchestra, sang a number of standards, including “You’re Nobody Until Somebody Loves You,” and “Feeling Good,” as well as two songs he said he had never performed onstage before: “Beyond the Sea,” which he said was Corson’s favorite song, and “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.” He charmed the audience, at one point joking that performing before the industry crowd wasn’t as scary as he was told it would be. “I’m crushing it,” he said. “I know it’s about Tom, but I’m killing it.”

Another highlight of the evening was a fundraiser where attendees raised a placard to donate sums from $100,000 down to $1,000. In the middle of the proceedings, Saban Entertainment founder and billionaire Haim Saban called over the emcee, Zack Krone, and after teasing him about not pressuring people enough to give, then donated $250,000.

Founded in 1913, City of Hope is one of the largest cancer and research treatment facilities in the U.S. The MFEI has raised more than $160 million for City of Hope in more than 50 years since its inception, noted Universal Music Publishing Group North America president Evan Lamberg and MFEI board chairman.  

The real stars of the evening were the several doctors from City of Hope who spoke about the strides the Duarte, California-based facility is making, in part funded by the dollars raised by MFEI. City of Hope’s research and medical breakthroughs, which include developing insulin and the technology that led to discovering Herceptin, a leading breast cancer medication, help more than 200 million people around the world annually, said Robert Stone, City of Hope’s CEO. “We’re living through times that will be remembered as the beginning of the end for so many cancers,” he said.

In addition to those in attendance among the other past Spirit of Hope honorees are Lyor Cohen, Shelli and Irving Azoff, Edgar Bronfman Jr., Coran Capshaw, Eddy Cue, Clive Davis, Sir Lucian Grainge, Allen Grubman, Quincy Jones, Rob Light, Monte and Avery Lipman, Doug Morris, Bob Pittman and Jon Platt.