The Beach Boys to Headline DART's Gala Benefit & Concert on June 1st

"Fun, Fun, Fun" is what DART always brings to its annual gala! Dana's Angels Research Trust (DART) is excited to announce its annual Gala Benefit and Concert on Saturday, June 1, 2013, with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame icons The Beach Boys, at the Palace Theatre in Stamford. The Gala will kick off with an elegant cocktail reception, followed by World-Famous RAO's Italian Restaurant pasta bar, silent and live auctions hosted by Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford. VIP Gala tickets are $350 and up and will be available by invitation and online at www.DanasAngels.org. Concert tickets are $110, $85, $60 and $50 and are available to the public through the Stamford Center for the Arts Box Office at www.SCAlive.org or by calling 203-325-4466. All proceeds benefit DART.

This marks DART's eleventh year as a non-profit focused on Niemann-Pick type C disease research. Throughout the years, DART has been blessed to have the support of incredible performers to its cause, such as America, Richard Dreyfuss, Rob Mathes, Smokey Robinson Frankie Valli and Natalie Cole, who have all performed at the DART Gala Benefits. Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford are also long-time supporters of DART, hosting each annual benefit. Past supporters and attendees at DART's annual fundraisers include Joy and Regis Philbin, Cheryl and Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, Sonny Grosso, Phil Ramone, Richard LaGravenese and Florence Henderson. Once again, Michelle Phillips from The Mamas and The Papas fame will act as Honorary Chair.

As The Beach Boys mark more than a half century of making music, the group continues to ride the crest of a wave unequalled in America's musical history. The Beach Boys have become synonymous with the California lifestyle and have become an American icon to a worldwide audience. Since lead-singer and rock's quintessential front man Mike Love penned the lyrics to The Beach Boys' first hit, "Surfin'" (1961), the band has had a string of charttopping songs and albums that spans the career and includes eternal anthems of American youth: "Surfin' USA," "Surfer Girl," "Fun, Fun, Fun," "I Get Around," "California Girls," "Help Me Rhonda," "Barbara Ann," "Good Vibrations," "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "Rock and Roll Music" and "Kokomo."

The Beach Boys have sold over 100 million records worldwide and have received 32 RIAA Platinum and Gold record awards. The Beach Boys have performed more concerts than any major rock band in history. On July 4, 1985, The Beach Boys played to an afternoon crowd of one million in Philadelphia and the same evening they performed for over 750,000 people on the Mall in Washington. The day's historical achievement was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. The band was honored at the 2001 Grammy Awards, receiving The Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy. Sounds Of Summer: The Very Best Of The Beach Boys, Capitol/EMI's 30-track collection of the band's biggest hits, has achieved massive double-platinum success with sales of more than two million copies in the U.S. since its 2003 release.

The Beach Boys are led by Mike Love and Bruce Johnston, who along with Christian Love, Randell Kirsch, Tim Bonhomme, John Cowsill and Scott Totten continue the legacy of the iconic American band. This show comes on the heels of The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Reunion Tour which was scheduled as a 75 concert limited tour in which the original members reunited and released "That's Why God Made the Radio." The album debuted at # 3 on the Billboard charts, their highest chart position in 37 years and an unprecedented milestone. This concert will not feature BrIan Wilson, Al Jardine or David Marks.

"DART is thrilled to have The Beach Boys headline this year's Gala Benefit and concert," noted Phil and Andrea Marella, founders of Dana's Angels Research Trust. "DART and all of the NPC families have a very exciting 2013. We are launching our third and most promising drug trial at the National Institutes of Health and presenting one of the greatest Rock and Roll bands of all time."

Dana's Angels Research Trust is a non-profit organization that funds research into a rare disease, Niemann-Pick type C (NPC), a fatal, cholesterol storage disease affecting children. Two of the Marella's four children, Dana and Andrew, have NPC. Most children who suffer from NPC die in their early teens, but DART has helped change that fate. As an all volunteer organization, over 95% of the funds expended are channeled directly into supporting pivotal NPC research; research that may also help millions of people suffering from HIV/Aids, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer's disease and other disorders that appear to be related to cholesterol.

The Marella children have been on different treatments that have helped keep the disease at bay - especially for Andrew, who is currently 13 years old and was diagnosed early and started treatment at a young age. His sister Dana, who is now 19, was not diagnosed until she was eight. She is now confined to a wheelchair, no longer talks, and requires complete care, but because of some successful treatment, she is still able to attend school.

To date, DART has raised about $2.6 million toward the search for a cure for NPC. DART is particularly proud of its commitment as a founding member of a unique, collaborative drug development program called SOAR-NPC or Support Of Accelerated Research. Working with other NPC families and research institutions, SOAR's collaborators have two drug trials already to their credit and a third planned for January 2013.

To learn more about Dana's Angels Research Trust (DART) and to purchase VIP Gala tickets to the June 1st DART Gala Benefit and Concert with The Beach Boys, visit www.DanasAngels.org or facebook.com/danasangels. To purchase concert only tickets, visit www.SCAlive.org or call the box office at 203-325-4466.

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