The Long Island Music Hall of Fame will present their Rising Star Award to the young singer/dancer Donnie J of MTV's Making the Band 4 on Wednesday, August 15, prior to his 8 PM performance at the Patchogue Theatre, 71 East Main Street in Patchogue, New York.

As a member of ASCAP and the Screen Actors Guild, Donnie J, (Donnie Klang - a native of Brooklyn, living in Levittown), has been involved in entertaining since he was young. Most recently, he has produced and written music heard around the East Coast. He began modeling in early childhood and continued in TV and film work as an adolescent. He then began to pursue music in high school. He was a business major at Hofstra University while minoring in music. As a member of a pop / R&B group, he has had experience singing, dancing, producing and performing around the country. He can be seen nationally on MTV's Making the Band 4, which is produced by and stars Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. If Donnie is chosen to be a member of the band, he will sign a record deal with Bad Boy Records and begin working on the group's first album, which will be supported by national touring. Visit Donnie J's MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/donniejmusic.

This will be the second Rising Star Award presented by the Long Island Music Hall of Fame, the first having been awarded to the pop/rock/powerpop group Bandcamp in August 2006.

For press inquiries about the Long Island Music Hall of Fame, contact Jeffrey James Arts Consulting at 516-586-3433 or jamesarts@worldnet.att.net. For more information about the Long Island Music Hall of Fame, please call 631-828-3914 or visit http://www.limusichalloffame.org/.

The Long Island Music Hall of Fame is a 501(c)(3) membership organization dedicated to the idea that Long Island's musical heritage is an important resource to be celebrated and preserved for future generations. The organization, which defines Long Island geographically rather than politically, as Kings, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties, was created as a place to inspire in each person the desire to explore and celebrate music in all its forms and to be a place where the music community will find the support, resources and leadership necessary to aid them in that exploration. The Long Island Music Hall of Fame sponsors the Long Island Sound Award, traveling educational exhibits and is working to create a permanent home for the story of the Island's musical heritage.