Music on Main Street to Host Benefit Concert for Melanoma Research

Music on Main Street (M.O.M.S.) in downtown Lilburn is hosting a concert this weekend to help fund melanoma research.

Nikki's Birtday Concert for a Cure will be held Sunday, May 19, to honor Nicole "Nikki" Rouis, a 25-year-old who died earlier this year from stage four melanoma. She would have turned 26 on May 1.

Rouis' family and her boyfriend, Camric Shultz, are the ones who came up with the idea to have a benefit show.

"She was always fun to be around, always worried about making sure everyone else was having a good time before herself," said Shultz, who lives in Conyers.

Shultz and Rouis met during their sophomore year at Valdosta State, where she graduated from in May 2010 with bachelor's degrees in marketing and business management.

The two had been dating for five years when she was diagnosed with melanoma in mid-October last year. She had been struggling with a week of extreme headaches, Shultz said.

"She did everything she could and kept an unbelievably strong attitude throughout the next few months," he added. She lost the battle to cancer Jan. 23.

Rouis wanted nothing other than to get better and do everything she could to help spread awareness of melanoma in the U.S., so Shultz and the Rouis family are doing their best to carry out the goal in her name.

And they aim to do that with the benefit show at M.O.M.S. Shultz said he chose the Lilburn location not only because it's a great venue, but because he and the owner lost a loved one to cancer, too. The owner's mother passed away after suffering for many years, and she left her son with funds in hopes that he would use it to make the world a better place with music.

The location is also convenient since Rouis grew up in the Grayson area, where her friends and family still live.

The two bands playing, Jack and Jim and Davin McCoy and the Coming Attractions, are some of the local Atlanta musicians that Rouis and Shultz are fans of. Jack and Jim, who are opening the show, play popular rock cover songs, and Davin McCoy and the Coming Attractions are headlining. Davin McCoy received the Best Male Rock Vocalist in 2012 from the Georgia Music Awards.

"When we came up with the event, [Davin] was one of the first people we asked if they'd be interested [playing the benefit show], and they were ecstatic about it," said Shultz, adding that Davin McCoy has played at M.O.M.S. before. "I've seen them a couple of times since then, and they're still really excited to be a part of the event and the cause."

All proceeds from the Nikki's Birtday Concert for a Cure goes directly to benefit the Melanoma Research Foundation. The event is open to the public and tickets will be on sale at the door for $20 for adults and $10 for children. Doors open at 2 p.m. and the show runs until 6 p.m. for the May 19th show. Music on Main Street is located at 113 Main St. in downtown Lilburn.

For more information, visit Nikki Rouis' tribute page and concert event page on Facebook.

See also:

• Business Spotlight: Music on Main Street
• Video Report: Tour of Music on Main Street
• Video: A Love Song from Music on Main Street

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