Living for two years in a chicken house and being homeless didn’t stop former R&B singer Joe Simon from achieving his dreams and he said others shouldn’t give up either.

“I’m the guy who was homeless, who lived in a chicken house (in California) for more than two years and then went on to own two record companies,” he said.

Mr. Simon will be in Chattanooga in June to give developmentally disabled middle-school students a night to shine. He will be guest speaker at the first Stars Night Out, an event to honor youths in the Hamilton County school system who have overcome personal trials to reach academic goals.

“We don’t only want to give awards to kids making A’s and B’s, we’re giving awards to inspire,” said Mr. Simon, a Grammy Award-winning singer who sang dozens of chart-topping hits during the 1960s and 1970s, including “Drowning in the Sea of Love” and “Power of Love,” a No. 1 hit on the R&B charts. In the mid-1980s, he switched from secular to inspirational music and now calls himself Bishop Simon.

Mary Ann Voss, Hamilton County Schools supervisor for middle school exceptional education program, said the students deserve the attention.

“They need to be recognized,” Ms. Voss said. “They have overcome challenges and I think it’s great.”

Stars Night Out is sponsored by International Star Productions Inc., a for-profit group of local businessmen and women working to support and inspire students with disabilities. Its goal is to raise enough money to give each child a scholarship when he or she graduates high school, officials said.

Many students just go through the educational system and never get a pat on the back, said Michael Blassingame, a member of International Star Productions.

“When that happens, motivation is lost,” he said. “We feel that by catching students at the age they are now, it will show them that their efforts are not in vain.”

Mr. Blassingame said his 13-year-old stepson, Kevin Rowe Jr., has a hearing and speech impediment and has been in Hamilton County Schools special education program for five years. But this year, educators have said his son will enter the seventh grade and start taking standard classes.

“If this award was named after anyone, it would be named after my son,” Mr. Blassingame said. “We saw him slowly evolve over the years from being academically timid, frustrated and unsure of himself to gaining confidence and tackling problems. He holds his head up higher and steps more firmly.”

Mr. Simon said his life experience has prepared him to motivate others. Born in Louisiana in 1943, he started singing in church and then joined a gospel group in 1959. But the group decided to turn to secular music.

In 1964 as a solo artist, Mr. Simon scored his first hit, “My Adorable One.” From there he had hits with such songs as “Let’s Do It Over,” “Get Down, Get Down (Get On the Floor & Let the Good Times Roll),” “Farther On Down the Road” and “Trouble in My Home.”

He became part owner of Spring Records in 1970 and owner of Posse Records in 1980.

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