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Lisa Lynne Mathis to Perform “The Greatest Embrace”

at U.S. Transplant Games on July 15, 2008

Westchester County, NY, May 6, 2008 – Singer-songwriter Lisa Lynne Mathis, a 1991 graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University's prestigious Music Theater program, will make a high-profile return to Pittsburgh on July 15, 2008 when she performs “The Greatest Embrace,” her stirring song of hope, faith and healing, at the closing ceremony of the National Kidney Foundation U.S. Transplant Games.

The U.S. Transplant Games is a four-day athletic competition among recipients of organ transplants. Competition in the Games is open to anyone who has received a lifesaving solid organ transplant ¾ heart, liver, kidney, lung, or pancreas. Bone marrow recipients are also eligible to participate. As much as the U.S. Transplant Games is an athletic event that calls attention to the success of organ and tissue transplantation, it is also a celebration of life among recipients, their families and friends.

While the lyrics to “The Greatest Embrace” were written in the voice of a departed child in Heaven, Mathis has said, “It is my hope that anyone who will hear this song can experience some healing.” Among those who have embraced the song is Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jeffrey Marx of the Wendy Marx Foundation for Organ Donor Awareness. Since 1990, the Wendy Marx Foundation has supported the National Kidney Foundation in its organization of the annual Games.

In 1989, Wendy Marx, Jeffrey’s younger sister, received a last-minute liver transplant that brought her out of a Hepatitis B-induced coma to give her renewed life. A year later, the Marx siblings joined with Olympic athlete Carl Lewis, a family friend, to found the organization that bears Wendy’s name. The foundation’s mission is to increase awareness of the desperate need for organ donations.

Although Wendy Marx lost her battle with Hepatitis B in 2003, Jeffrey Marx and Carl Lewis have continued their mission to educate the public about the need for organ donations. When Jeffrey first heard Mathis’s “The Greatest Embrace” which appears on her latest release, Hancock Place, the song resonated deeply for him.

"Lisa Lynne Mathis sings with such passion and purpose," Marx says. "What a perfect fit for anyone involved with organ donation and transplantation. In fact, the whole idea is to reach a point where 'The Greatest Embrace' becomes the anthem of the transplant community." It is with that goal in mind that Marx arranged for Mathis to perform at the Closing Ceremony on July 15th.

ABOUT LISA LYNNE MATHIS Lisa Lynne Mathis Lisa Lynne Mathis released her first full length CD Hancock Place (Garagista) in the Spring of 2007. Her upbeat pop songs are infused with everything from gospel choirs to jazz solos to a Dixieland band. Lisa Lynne’s sound has been compared to some of her own musical inspirations, Sarah McLaughlin, Tori Amos and Marc Cohn. She has opened for Grammy Award winner Paula Cole and been a featured guest performer at Carnegie Hall.  Lisa Lynne recently performed a concert at the Christian Embassy for the United Nations.  Other appearances have included a solo concert at the highly acclaimed Metropolitan Room in Manhattan where she will also perform this coming Fall. Lisa Lynne Mathis lives in Irvington, NY with her husband and two young daughters.

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