He was surrounded by music growing up in North Philadelphia, where he and his mother were members of the Mount Zion United Methodist Church choir.

Eventually, his passion for singing and performing led to a carrer in entertainment, and, after a 15-year break, he returned to music, volunteering for the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz & Performing Arts, on Broad Street near Fitzwater.

Gardner, 78, who lives in Germantown, sweat blood and tears for music; he'll be the first one to say so. But it didn't go unnoticed.

When he was in need last year, music - in the form of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation - reached out and footed the bill for dental work that he couldn't afford.

"I was elated; I don't know of no other organization that would do that," the white-bearded Gardner said recently over coffee. He could have turned to the National Academy of Recording Artists, he said, but that bureaucratically heavy route is "almost like going to a bank."

Gardner is one of about 300 musical artists helped since the foundation was established in 1988. Its grants-assistance program has disbursed just over $500,000 since the organization began. Its cash-awards program has given out $2.5 million to artists receiving recognition that foundation officials say they would not get anywhere else.

It and other organizations with similar relief programs, "such as MusiCares and the Jazz Foundation have all seen a rise in demand because the recession has hit home with older artists," said Patricia Wilson Aden, executive director of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.

In this economy, it's a tough time for everyone, she adds. "While the demand is up, our donations are down," Aden said.

A foundation fundraiser will be held from 6 to 9 tonight at Club Adesso, on Walnut Street near 15th.

"These are people who very generously gave of their creativity," said Aden. "They've contributed to our American heritage but also to our personal enjoyment. It's shameful that in their senior years, those who have given us so much have to live on so little."

Guitarist and singer Huey Long, a member of the vocal quartet the Ink Spots, who paved the way for R&B, as well as rock 'n' roll, died at age 105 in June.

His daughter Anita Long was distraught by his passing that she stopped working and invested all her savings into a museum dedicated to her father.

"Dad didn't have insurance to do anything," Long said, in an interview from the museum in Houston.

The organization reached out to her after his death. Long didn't know about the foundation, she said, but that's changed.

"I see what they are now and I have to always be indebted to them for what they did for me," she said.

Singer Sugar Pie DeSanto knows about loyalty and she feels it big time for the R&B Foundation.

The 74-year-old performer has relied on the organization's kindness over the years "when the gigs got slow," DeSanto said in a phone interview from Oakland, Calif.

"When tough times come, they help me," the raspy-voiced entertainer said. "They just don't talk about it; they do what they have to do. They've been there for me at every turn."

DeSanto, who last year received a foundation Pioneer Award that included $10,000, recently marked the third anniversary of the death of her husband, Jessie E. Davis, in a fire in their apartment.

It nearly killed her and she was left with nothing that Oct. 25, 2006.

"They gave me six months of rent, food; they looked out for me," DeSanto said of the R&B Foundation's response.

"They've been good to me and to other artists," she said. "But I'm talking about Sugar's case. I'm a living witness. They don't forget about the artists."

The R&B Foundation also helps to re-establish musicians' royalties so they can be made whole again, said record mogul Kenny Gamble, secretary of the foundation board.

It also holds seminars to educate young artists on their rights and to teach the business side of music, Gamble said. The group tries to let "young people know the history of the music industry and to try to avoid that from happening again," he said.

That history includes record executives' snatching away publishing rights from unsuspecting artists and managers' skimming money from their clients.

Tonight's fundraiser pays for these efforts - and it's timely.

The fundraiser will have a disco Halloween theme, Billy Paul and other recording artists are scheduled to appear, and a DJ will spin from Gamble and Huff's '70s repertoire. Information is available through 215-587-7000 or www. clubadesso.com.