Sounds steezy. Check it out:

The President and First Lady will invite music legends and contemporary major artists to the White House on Thursday, February 24, 2011, for “The Motown Sound: In Performance at the White House,” a concert celebrating Black History Month and the legacy of Motown Records.

The program will include tributes to Motown’s distinctive soul-infused pop music sound that solidified its popularity in American culture, and showcase Motown’s impact on all music. The event will include legends from Motown’s golden age and performances by artists from today, all in tribute to Motown’s 50-year legacy. Performers include Smokey Robinson, Natasha Bedingfield, Sheryl Crow, Jamie Foxx, Gloriana, Nick Jonas, Ledisi, John Legend, Amber Riley, Mark Salling, Seal and Jordin Sparks with Greg Phillinganes as the night’s music director. This concert will be held in the East Room…

Since 2009, the President and First Lady have hosted musical tributes to Jazz, Country, Classical, Latin, Music of the Civil Rights Movement and Broadway genres. Many of these evening events featured daytime educational workshops designed to educate and inspire talented young people to use their gifts and develop a future for themselves in the arts community whether as a hobby or as a profession.

That’s a great lineup. You can watch here on JJP live starting at 7pm EST. Do you have any great Motown memories? I remember as a little kid, my grandparents singing “Tears of a Clown” to each other and my parents dancing around to old Earth, Wind and Fire. Good times — and not just the TV show.

FYI if you missed it:

“The Motown Sound: In Performance at the White House,” which is produced by public broadcaster WETA Washington, D.C., in association with Bounce, a division of AEG, and the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC), will be broadcast on PBS stations nationwide on Tuesday, March 1 at 8 p.m. (ET). The program will also be broadcast via the American Forces Network on March 11 to American service men and women and civilians at U.S. Department of Defense locations around the world.

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