Dwayne Wade
By: Mary Jo Almeida-Shore
To ease the pain of entering a new decade, Dwyane Wade’s family and friends (and by “friends” we mean sponsors such as Hublot and The Collection) celebrated the basketball star’s birthday with a weekend filled with festivities, beginning with a surprise brunch hosted at the W Hotel by his mother Jolinda and sister Tragil. The intimate gathering included Wade’s girlfriend, Gabrielle Union and featured a performance by Grammy Award-winning singer Yolanda Adams.
On Sunday night a slew of celebrities including the usual suspects, teammates Lebron James, Chris Bosh and Udonis Haslem as well as Pat Riley, DJ Irie and Usher feted Wade at the Setai’s courtyard with free-flowing Hennessy and Belvedere and special surprise performances from Kelly Rowland, T.I., Common and Rick Ross.
The evening began with a special “30 for 30” dinner at the Setai hosted by Dom Perignon, Belevedere and Hennessy, during which the vintage champagne producer presented Wade with a bottle of 1982 Dom Perignon, in honor of his birth year. After dinner, the party moved to the courtyard where Wade was greeted by over 300 friends and VIP guests. One of the biggest surprises was the all-new 2012 McLaren MP4-12C supercar, customized just for Wade, which was perched on a platform on the pool awaiting Wade’s arrival. Ken Gorin, president and CEO of The Collection had the car airlifted onto the hotel pool earlier in the day. Wade was blown away when he saw the custom alloy wheel center caps with Wade’s signature logo as well as a specialty “WADE” emblem for the rear, WADE Limited Edition side badges and dedication plates on the inside door panels that read “Hand assembled in the United Kingdom in recognition of Dwyane Wade’s 30th Birthday.” Would someone please let Mr. Gorin know that my birthday is June 9? Thank you!
The excitement continued with special musical performances which culminated in a sexy rendition of “Happy Birthday” sung by Kelly Roland. Wade was also surprised with a video tribute filled with well wishes from Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez, Michael Jordan, P. Diddy, Kelly Ripa, Queen Latifah, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots, Jay Leno, George Lopez, ABC’s Juju Chang, Al Roker, GQ’s Jim Moore, Kobe Bryant, teammates Lebron James and Chris Bosh; and Anna Wintour, who said, she hoped to see Wade back at New York Fashion Week in September, “because you’re my favorite person to sit next to at the shows.” Who knew?
The basketball star was also gifted with a Hublot 3000 diamond encrusted watch before taking the stage to thank his family, friends and fans. At around 1 a.m. the party moved to Mynt for even more revelry.
