'Hope for Haiti' telethon adds the 'Material Girl' hitmaker on the line-up, while Bono and Jay-Z have Rihanna lending her vocal on charity single 'Stranded'.
- Jan 22, 2010
AceShowbiz - More stars are added to the upcoming "Hope for Haiti" benefit concert. Madonna is scheduled to make a live performance alongside Jennifer Hudson and Mary J. Blige at the New York City-based gig which will be hosted by Wyclef Jean.
In addition to the NYC concert, there will also be another show held in London. This gig will see a performance from Bono teaming up with Jay-Z and Rihanna. They will be singing a joint track called "Stranded" which will be subtitled either "Haiti Mon Amour" or "Haiti Mi Amore".
"The idea of the song is 'We're not gonna leave you stranded' and that's what the chorus is," producer Swizz Beatz told Rolling Stone. "So me and Bono started going back and forth with ideas, and he was like, 'You know this word stranded keeps standing out to me' and I asked him to sing it."
Other public figures involved in the event include Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, Selena Gomez, Ashley Tisdale, Brad Pitt, Vanessa Hudgens, David Archuleta, Denzel Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio, former president Bill Clinton and many others. Earlier this week, Kanye West was rumored to be banned from the concert, but a rep for MTV told Us Magazine that the rumor is not true. The organizers did reach out to Kanye, but he hasn't responded just yet.
On top of that, Nick Jonas revealed about "working some things out right now" for Haiti. The Jonas Brothers' member explained to MTV, "Because it's not confirmed, I can't necessarily share it just yet. I think that the main thing to remember is we can all do something whether it's a little bit or a lot. I'm willing and ready to help if I can in any way. I definitely feel for the people in Haiti."
As for the charity single, "Stranded" is not the only song crafted to raise funds for the earthquake victims. Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie will be joined by Usher, Natalie Cole and John Legend in a re-recorded track "We Are the World" for Haiti, and Simon Cowell plans to produce a song for the cause.
Also, Linkin Park are set to release a compilation effort featuring Peter Gabriel, Alanis Morissette and Dave Matthews Band to help the victims. Bette Midler has raised over $35,000 from her Las Vegas concert for the Haitian, Lady GaGa will dedicate her entire show on January 24 to bring relief to the Caribbean island, and Coldplay along with Arctic Monkeys are donating their items to be put for Haitian auction.
