USA: ELTON JOHN HOLDS "20 YEARS OF AIDS" CELEBRITY BENEFIT CONCERT FOR THE ELTON JOHN AIDS FOUNDATION TO HELP AIDS SUFFERERS

Record ID: 392429

  • Title: USA: ELTON JOHN HOLDS "20 YEARS OF AIDS" CELEBRITY BENEFIT CONCERT FOR THE ELTON JOHN AIDS FOUNDATION TO HELP AIDS SUFFERERS
  • Date: 12th December 2001
  • Summary: VARIOUS, ALICIA KEYS PERFORMING
  • Embargoed: 27th December 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment,General,Health
  • Reuters ID: LVAAS9FBPJ8I00HYVPHE17JK71FX
  • Story Text: Sir Elton John was joined by hit artists like Sting, Alicia Keys, Craig David, and matchbox twenty for "The Concert ... 20 Years of AIDS" Thursday (December 12) evening in Los Angeles, to benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
    Top artists joined "Piano Man" Sir Elton John in Los Angeles for an star-studded concert to benefit AIDS. Alicia Keys, Jon Bon Jovi, Craig David, Leann Rimes, matchbox twenty, Peter Yorn, Rufus Wainwright, and Sting all performed Thursday (December 12) evening at the Universal Amphitheater on the Universal Studios lot.
    Dubbed "The Concert ... 20 Years of AIDS," the evening marked the 20th anniversary of the discovery of the virus that causes AIDS. In order to continue to raise awareness about the fight against AIDS and the struggle to find a cure, John put together the all-star event to benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the AIDS Project Los Angeles.
    Before heading in to the event, John talked about using his celebrity to gather other talent and to raise money:
    "I whore my celebrity around, basically, to get these people to come and do this. I put my name forward and I do all the schmoozing, but the people in the AIDS Foundation and everyone, do the basic work, I just use my celebrity and my fame to try to get as much money out of people as humanly possible so that we can help some people throughout the world.
    That's basically it, in a nutshell."
    British singer Craig David said he was flattered just to be asked to join such a group of people.
    "When Elton says, would you like to come and perform, its not really a hard one to say, yeah, I'd love to. I mean, I never thought in a million years I'd be performing alongside these great artists from Elton John to Sting and it's nice to bring a contemporary feel by bringing Alicia Keys and myself. And of course the cause, the whole charity of it. I think it's the least we can do is give something back, so it's been a cool thing," David told Reuters.
    And R&B newcomer Alicia Keys said she was glad to doing anything to help raise awareness about AIDS:
    "I think the more aware we become and the more ways we can be exposed to it, then definitely, we'll get the message more and more and hopefully not because it's happening to us, but because we're preventing it."
    Kicking off the night was a performance by Sting, followed by a hit parade of star performances. John did double duty, emceeing the event as well as performing. And in a truly grand finale, John paid tribute to his friend and fellow AIDS crusader Dame Elizabeth Taylor. She announced that the concert raised more than $1 million (USD).
    --
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