Celebrities sing out for Haiti, but how long will public listen?
More than three weeks after the earthquake that devastated Haiti on Jan. 12, musicians continue to channel their concern into a range of relief projects.
The evening after the Grammy Awards, a bevy of stars gathered to record an updated, Haiti-themed version of the 1985 anthem We Are the World. The benefit concert SOS Saving Ourselves — Help for Haiti airs live Thursday night from Miami on BET, MTV, VH1 and Centric. A new Haiti-relief remix of The Who's My Generation will premiere Sunday during the Super Bowl.
But while artists remain galvanized by the disaster, some are questioning how long their endeavors can sustain the public's attention — not to mention its financial support.
"Everyone's hearts are in the right place," says Billboard senior charts manager Keith Caulfield. "But as we've seen in the past, when something like this happens, the first charitable efforts out of the gate tend to do the best. After a while, the novelty of artists coming together on behalf of a good cause is gone."
Caulfield points to 2001's telethon America: A Tribute to Heroes, which was broadcast just 10 days after 9/11. Packed with music and film icons, the program raised more than $100 million for relief, "and the musical performances are well-remembered." Jan. 22's Hope for Haiti Now was similar in timing, structure and star power, and has drawn $66 million in donations.
A collection of performances from Hope became the first digital-only release to make its debut atop Billboard's album chart (selling 171,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan), but Caulfield attributes that feat to "the instantaneous delivery and distribution of the music, which was recorded on a Friday night and released Saturday. Had they waited a month and a half for a physical CD, it probably wouldn't have had the same impact."
Yet new benefit shows and charity recordings keep cropping up, from local and independent efforts to high-profile outings such as Andrea Bocelli and Mary J. Blige's performance of Bridge Over Troubled Water at the Grammys, made available at iTunes. This Monday, Blige, Wyclef Jean and Whoopi Goldberg will appear in New York with other personalities to launch the initiative Hope Help & Relief Haiti.
A remake of R.E.M.'s Everybody Hurts, which will be downloadable Sunday, brought best-selling Brits Susan Boyle and Leona Lewis together with American icons such as Rod Stewart and Mariah Carey. We Are the World: 25 for Haiti showcases an even larger and more eclectic lineup.
"I can only hope this can have the impact that the original had," says one participant, Josh Groban. (The first World has raised more than $63 million from discs, downloads and merchandise.) Granted, music sales aren't what they were 25 years ago — or in the Sept. 11 era, for that matter. But Celine Dion, another voice in the new World, echoes Groban's goal: "We have to react and act and make a difference."
Some music consumers are skeptical. Danny Gillane, 44, of Lafayette, La., and his wife, Jenna, contribute to organizations that "have responded to the Haiti tragedy," but he feels less confident that musicians are positioned to deliver such assistance. "I do not always trust the recording industry's or the artists' abilities to optimize the use of the funds, or even to guarantee the delivery of the funds," he says.
BET programming co-president Stephen Hill acknowledges that it's "always a challenge to maintain the public's attention, especially as the media focuses on other stories." Hill hopes to put together an album from SOS, but more generally plans to provide BET viewers "with constant reminders, as the weeks go on, that this crisis is not yet over. That's what we did with Katrina: We kept making it clear that New Orleans still needed our help."
Celebrities play a role in maintaining awareness, particularly outside the country, says Francis Ghesquiere, the World Bank's regional coordinator for disaster risk management.
"People tend to get tired of one issue and start talking about the next crisis, but the truth is we'll just be starting reconstruction of Haiti in about a year," he says. "We'll need the long-term engagement of the international community, and this is an opportunity to enlist its support."
Kenny Rogers to mark 50 years in music on TV
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Country music veteran Kenny Rogers is marking 50 years in the music business with a star-studded TV special.
"Pretty courageous, isn't it?" Rogers, 71, said in a phone interview, laughing.
"The whole idea is to get together with some friends of mine," he added. "I really don't want it to be a tribute. That's not what my deal is. It's kind of a celebration."
Friends including Dolly Parton, Allison Krauss, Lionel Richie and Wynonna Judd are already signed on to take part in "Kenny Rogers — The First 50 Years," which will tape on April 10 at the MGM Grand At Foxwoods in Connecticut.
The special will take viewers through the six decades of Rogers' hits, including "The Gambler," "Lucille," "Lady" and the Dolly Parton duet "Islands In The Stream." Entertainers who have known Rogers throughout the years will host segments of the show. Rogers will also perform, and he hopes that producers build in some unscripted time.
"I'm at my best when they turn me loose and just let me do something," he said.
There will undoubtedly be pictures and videos spanning six decades as well. Rogers is ready to embrace his fashion history. He started out in a jazz band wearing three-piece suits, but then changed it up when he joined The First Edition in 1967.
"I had never had a beard, and I parted my hair on the side like everybody else did," he said. "Then when I got in The First Edition, I was the oldest one, and they were saying, 'You may be too old for this group,' and I said, "Whoa, whoa, hold on. Give me a chance here.' So I went back and parted my hair in the middle, which was a little more contemporary. I put an earring in my ear, and then I grew a beard, and I wore those brown, rose-colored glasses to kind of give me an identification for that era."
While he has adapted to changing fashions, Rogers said the secret to long-term success is to be genuine.
"Everybody is three people. We're who we think we are, we're who the audience thinks we are, and we're who we really are, and the closer those three people are together, the longer your career can last," he said. "You can be a jerk, if you're a jerk all the time. But I think you have to be what you represent. The audience doesn't like to be fooled."
As for his next 50 years, Rogers is clear about his goals.
"Musically, I think I'm capable of making hit songs. Will they get played? Radio has said to me four or five times since my big success, 'Do a great song, and we'll play it.' They did it with 'The Greatest.' The did it with 'Buy Me a Rose.' They did it with 'I Can't Unlove You.' So I think I just have to find that song they can't say 'no' to, and I will constantly be trying to do that."
The network airing "Kenny Rogers — The First 50 Years" will be announced later. The special will also be syndicated internationally.
Rogers has sold over 105 million albums, earned dozens of awards, including three Grammys, and is ranked 8 on the R.I.A.A.'s list of top selling male artists of all time. His television movie, "The Gambler," is one of the highest rated TV movies of all time.
AC/DC rocker attacks Geldof charity
AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson has taken aim at Live Aid hero Bob Geldof for publicizing his tireless charity work.
The heavy rocker, who himself supports a number of organizations, insists philanthropy isn't something celebrities should boast about.
Johnson admits he keeps his giving to himself because he doesn't want to make less affluent people feel guilty for not parting with their hard-earned cash.
He tells Australia's Herald Sun newspaper, "I do it myself, I don't tell everybody I'm doing it. I don't tell everybody they should give money - they can't afford it."
And Johnson isn't stopping there - he's also attacking Geldof's 1985 charity concert, which was held to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia, claiming it was in vain because the cash raised didn't benefit the people it should have.
He adds, "When I was a working man, I didn't want to go to a concert for some bastard to talk down to me that I should be thinking of some kid in Africa. I'm sorry mate, do it yourself, spend some of your own money and get it done. It just makes me angry. I become all tyrannical.
"Bob Geldof is a canny lad. He did what he thought was right at the time but it didn't work. The money didn't go to poor people. It makes me mad when people try to use politics or charity for publicity. Do a charity gig, fair enough, but not on worldwide television."
'80s hit Down Under copies kids' song, court says
Australian band Men at Work copied a well-known children's campfire song for the flute melody in its 1980s hit Down Under and owes the owner years of royalties, a court ruled Thursday.
Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree was written more than 70 years ago by Australian teacher Marion Sinclair for a Girl Guides competition, and the song has been a favourite around campfires from New Zealand to Canada.
The teacher died in 1988, and publishing company Larrikin Music owns the copyright to her song about the native Australian bird. Larrikin filed the copyright lawsuit last year.
"I have come to the view that the flute riff in Down Under … infringes on the copyright of Kookaburra because it replicates in material form a substantial part of Ms. Sinclair's 1935 work," Federal Court Justice Peter Jacobson said.
He ordered the parties back in court Feb. 25 to discuss the compensation Larrikin should receive from songwriters Colin Hay and Ron Strykert and Men at Work's record companies Sony BMG Music Entertainment and EMI Songs Australia.
Adam Simpson, Larrikin Music's lawyer, said outside court the company might seek up to 60 per cent of the royalties Down Under earned since its release — an amount that could total millions.
The songwriters and their recording companies did not immediately comment.
Down Under and the album Business As Usual topped the Australian, American and British charts in early 1983. The song remains an unofficial anthem for Australia and was ranked fourth in a 2001 music industry survey of the best Australian songs. Men at Work won the 1983 Grammy Award for best new artist.