Look To The Stars News: Kylie Minogue

Madonna To Attend AIDS Charity Cannes Event

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:52:37 -0000

Madonna, the Queen of Pop herself, will join Sharon Stone and Michelle Yeoh at this year’s annual amfAR Cinema Against AIDS fundraiser on May 22, during the 61st annual Cannes International Film Festival.

The event, which will benefit the American Foundation for AIDS Research, will take place at Le Moulin de Mougins and will include a formal dinner and a live auction. In addition, this year’s event will feature a short clip of I Am Because We Are , the Madonna-produced and -narrated documentary about children orphaned by AIDS in Malawi.

The organization’s annual Cinema Against AIDS galas have generated more than $33 million for essential AIDS research since 1993, and have been hosted by Elizabeth Taylor, Sharon Stone, Demi Moore, and Sir Elton John. Last year’s live auction raised $4 million, making a total of $7 million for the night, and featured a surprise performance by Kylie Minogue.

A full screening of I Am Because We Are is scheduled to take place in Cannes the evening before the gala, and will tie in with amfAR’s Cinema Against AIDS event.

Tables for this year’s Cinema Against AIDS will range in price from $40,000 to $150,000. For event reservations and details, visit www.amfar.org.

Celebrities Clean Out Their Closets For Charity

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:09:39 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Is your closet looking a little empty? Or maybe a little boring? Have the moths eaten holes in your favorite frock? Well, never fear, help is here – in the form of a couple of celebrity auctions for great causes.

March will see the opening of Katherine Heigl’s new film 27 Dresses, and to mark the occasion, 20th Century Fox is auctioning 27 celebrity dresses on eBay. Fabulous frocks from Heidi Klum, Thandie Newton, Mariah Carey, Geri Halliwell, Naomi Campbell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Alesha Dixon will be up for sale in the special event, with all proceeds going to the Lavender Trust, an initiative of the UK charity Breast Cancer Care to raise money for young breast cancer sufferers.

The auction also features a stunning white John Galliano dress worn by Kylie Minogue to Cannes 2007, and a full length silver halter top belonging to her sister, Danni Minogue. The auction starts on eBay at 7pm on March 4, and a different dress will be auctioned every day.

If accessories are more your thing, then an exciting auction being held in Britain may be of interest. The Grace House North East Children’s Appeal Celebrity Bag Auction features a range of bags donated by some of England’s top stars, including members of Girls Aloud, as well as Dame Judi Dench, Twiggy, Sarah Ferguson, celebrity chef Ainsley Hariott, and newsreader Kirsty Young.

The event, to be held at the Apartment Bar in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on March 6, is sponsored by Makoosh, an online jewelry store, and will raise money to build the region’s first hospice for terminally ill children. The auction follows a similar event held last year, which raised $19,500, and featured items donated by Annie Lennox and Graham Norton.

“It is fabulous to see so many household names come out in force to support Grace House by donating their favourite handbags and manbags to be auctioned,” said Grace House Fundraising Assistant Sumera Bashir. “I would like to thank them all for making this event possible.”

More information about the auction can be found at www.gracehouse.co.uk.

Alicia Keys - As I Am

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 09:02:56 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Pop star and philanthropist Alicia Keys has written a personal message for fans – “Don’t Forget Africa”.

The message, published in the December issue of Seventeen magazine, urges fans to support Keep A Child Alive, the charity Keys co-founded in 2002 to raise support and money for children affected by AIDS in Africa.

“Keep A Child Alive funds the testing and treatment of HIV/AIDS in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda,” said the 26-year-old singer in her message. “One hundred percent of the donations go to clinics and orphanages in Africa and India. By visiting www.keepachildalive.org, and by starting a chapter in your high school or college, you can help save lives. You don’t want to grow up and say ‘How could millions of people be allowed to die from this illness when all the tools were there to prevent it?’”

HIV/AIDS has become a true pandemic on the African continent, and in the last 25 years it has left 28 million dead and 15 million orphaned. It has wiped out whole communities, it threatens economic infrastructure, and continues to ravage families. It is an issue close to the Grammy winner’s heart.

“AIDS is 25,” she said in 2006. “As am I. And when I think that AIDS has been around my entire life, a mix of sadness, compassion and anger overcomes me. While the statistics on AIDS are staggering, especially in Africa, we cannot allow their magnitude to immobilize us into inactivity. Rather, we must harness our sadness and anger into action!”

Born as Alicia J. Augello-Cook in Harlem, New York, the singer got her nickname of Keys as a seven year old, when she showed a natural talent on the piano. But life in the Bronx was tough, and Keys describes herself as an “only child, a lonely child”, living in an area “cluttered with crime, dark alleys, drug dealers, pimps, prostitutes, and X-rated movies”.

“My father just wasn’t there, and didn’t live close by,” said the singer. “And since my mother worked so hard, I was on my own a lot.”

She took solace in her piano and music, and in 2001, at the age of just 19, Alicia Keys released her debut album, “Songs In A Minor”. Five Grammy Awards (and over 12 million album sales) later, Keys returned with “The Diary of Alicia Keys” in 2003, “Unplugged” in 2005, and “As I Am” in 2007.

It has been a meteoric rise for the young singer, but unlike many in the industry who acquire such heady fame at such a young age, Keys has managed not just to keep both feet on the ground, but also to use her fame to help those less fortunate. She co-founded Keep A Child Alive after visiting countries such as Uganda, Kenya, and South Africa, and is also a spokesperson for Frum Tha Ground Up, a charity dedicated to inspiring and motivating American youths to achieve success on all levels.

“Keep striving for your dreams and your vision,” she said on the Frum Tha Ground Up website. Even when you feel that nobody else feels what you’re going through and all you see is negative, just keep on keeping on. There comes a point and time when you are no longer a victim of your circumstance, and you can’t blame your parents or anybody else for whatever’s going on in your life. It’s only you… you can be whatever you wanna be, you just have to believe it. Say this is who I am, and you will grow into the person you want to become.”

Keys’ positive outlook on life has flowed like a river through her songs, and has been reflected in her appearances at the New Jersey Live Earth concert, the Philadelphia Live 8 concert, as well as several concerts to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. In December 2007, she also appeared at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Norway to honor Al Gore, alongside Kylie Minogue, Annie Lennox, Melissa Etheridge, and KT Tunstall.

But the AIDS pandemic in Africa is her greatest concern, and she has appeared at many events and concerts to raise awareness of the issue. She even recorded a duet of Peter Gabriel’s “Don’t Give Up” with Bono for World AIDS Day 2006, with all proceeds going to Keep A Child Alive.

“We must come together – individuals, governments, corporations, philanthropists and artists – as one and fight for the rights of children and families suffering unnecessarily from this dreadful disease,” she told guests at the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto in 2006. “We must never give up until AIDS treatment and realistic prevention messages go hand in hand across the world; until we realize that keeping mothers alive is critical to the well being of the world’s children; and until we can stand together and say, “We did not sit idly by and watch an entire continent perish.”

As well as being a singer and philanthropist, Alicia Keys is a role model and actively pursues issues she feels moved about. She urges her fans to “be generous, be courageous, be cool, be volunteers, be heartfelt, be global, be respectful, be child friendly, be compassionate, and be human.”

She has faced adversity and come out with a desire to help others, using her own experiences to illustrate the importance of positive thinking.

“Life is adversity, something that is trying to get in your way or hold you down. Obstacles are gonna come every day. Don’t get it twisted, don’t think because you have your mother and father and a ‘traditional family’ that you won’t face adversity. It’s not just facing adversity, because we all do that, it’s how you overcome it that defines who you are.”

For more information on Alicia Keys, visit www.aliciakeys.net.

Children in Need

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 12:27:27 -0000

Written by Myrlia Purcell

The stars have lined up for the 2007 Children in Need Appeal, the BBC’s annual TV charity event. Airing tonight on BBC One, the evening of special programming will be hosted by Terry Wogan, and will feature special live performances by the Spice Girls in LA, Kylie Minogue, Westlife, Annie Lennox, David Gray and Sugababes.

The Spice Girls are also helping out by donating funds from their new single “Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)”. [Amazon: CD, MP3]

Irish boy band Boyzone have reformed for the event; the band split seven years ago when lead singer Ronan Keating went solo.

Last year’s appeal brought in £33 million ($66 million) for the charity, which strives to improve the lives of disadvantaged children.

As we are reporting in other news today, Children in Need is also one of the beneficiaries of a new fundraising book of celebrity handprints.

It's Never Too Crowded For Charity

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:35:18 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Half of the band is American, yet they originated in Australia, and the lead singer is a New Zealander. Veteran pop band Crowded House can truly be considered as one of the most international music groups ever to grace the airwaves. And even though they are currently halfway through a world tour to promote their latest album, they still find time to be part of a new collaborative CD to raise money for Oxfam.

“The Cake Sale” ([CD] /[MP3]) is a new record featuring a loose and expansive collective of musicians and writers, including Crowded House founding member Nick Seymore, who have combined to create a 9 song CD of previously unreleased recordings. Profits from the album, which also features Nina Persson from The Cardigans, Damien Rice, and Snow Patrol, will go to Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair campaign, as well as to their overseas program work. It was released in Britain in September, where it has already raised almost $300,000, and was made available in the US on October 16.

Crowded House formed in 1984, as a result of the demise of an earlier band called Split Enz. Ex-Enz singer/songwriter Neil Finn, and drummer Paul Hester, joined bass player Nick Seymore to form the new band, then travelled to Los Angeles. There they were signed to Capital Records. Over the next 12 years, the band released four albums, and garnered a loyal fan base with a strong repertoire of hits on both sides of the Atlantic, including “Don’t Dream It’s Over”, “Weather With You”, and “Four Seasons In One Day”.

In 1996, the band called it a day, and played a final Farewell To The World concert to 120,000 people in front of the Sydney Opera House. Proceeds from what many regard as one of the most emotional gigs ever all went to the Sydney Children’s Hospital.

The following years saw the members of the group pursue new musical directions. Finn released two solo albums, and also travelled to Africa with Oxfam, a trip that resulted in him becoming an Oxfam Ambassador. In 2005, he was part of Oxfam’s Big Noise program, an international petition of more than 10 million signatures which called on decision makers to change unfair global trade rules so that people in developing countries have the chance to work their way out of poverty. He has since been part of a number of concerts to raise money for Oxfam, and also took time time entice his fellow New Zealanders to be a part of Oxjam in October 2007.

“You can do something,” said 49 year old Finn. “You can use your voice and tell the world that we won’t stand for people living in poverty any more. It’s not just about charity, it’s about justice. So stand up. Get singing, get playing. Make as much noise as you can and support Oxjam.”

Finn, who was awarded an OBE in 1993 for services to New Zealand music, also supports other charities in his native country, often contributing to celebrity auctions. One of the most popular of these is the annual auction held for the Raukatauri Music Therapy Trust, New Zealand’s only dedicated music therapy centre catering for special needs children. In 2005, the hand-written lyrics to his most popular songs raised $15,000 for the charity.

In February 2007, Neil Finn played a charity show for Scope, England’s largest organization for people living with cerebral palsy. The concert was held at Stowe School in Wales, and also featured Aussie rocker, Jimmy Barnes. The event was followed by a celebrity auction featuring items donated by Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, Elton John, and Australian cricketer, Shane Warne.

2007 also saw the reforming of Crowded House as a band, with the release of their new album, “Time On Earth”. The album, dedicated to the memory of drummer Paul Hester, went straight to the top of the charts in Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, and was in the top twenty in many parts of Europe. One of the first gigs the band played together to promote the album was Hyde Park Calling, a benefit concert festival held in London on June 23 and 24. Organized in conjunction with Hard Rock Cafe, it was the first concert in the second annual Ambassadors of Rock Tour, a global concert series featuring top artists and bands, benefitting charities worldwide. The London concert, which also featured Peter Gabriel, Chris Cornell, and Aerosmith, raised funds for the Nordoff-Robbins Foundation, a charitable organization that provides music therapy to autistic children, and Global Angels, a charity that acts as an umbrella fundraising mechanism for children’s projects throughout the world.

A few weeks later, Crowded House played at the Live Earth concert in Sydney, closing the show in memorable fashion, despite a power failure that meant most of their set was played in the dark.

“It feels right to us that the band should re-emerge at this time,” said Finn before the Live Earth concert. “We aim to make this show as vital and spirited as what has come before.”

More information about “The Cake Sale” album, which Hot Press describes as being “the album other charity records aspire to be”, can be found at www.thecakesale.com, and the official Crowded House website can be viewed at www.crowdedhouse.com.

Kylie, Clooney, Stone Boost AIDS Charity At Cannes Event

Thu, 24 May 2007 14:40:49 -0000

Written by Steve Purcell

A dinner and auction event in Cannes drew film festival attendees and raised more than $7 million for the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR).

Tables for the Cinema Against AIDS gala ranged from $30,000 to $100,000, including Burlesque entertainment from Dita Von Teese and a suprise performance by Kylie Minogue of her songs “Locomotion” and “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”.

Guest auctioneer Sharon Stone sold lots which included a kiss from George Clooney, for which one woman happily paid $350,000.

AmfAR supports AIDS research, prevention, treatment, education and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related public policy. Its Cinema Against AIDS gala has taken place annually since 1993, and has raised more than $22 million for essential AIDS research. Past events have been hosted by Dame Elizabeth Taylor, Sharon Stone, Demi Moore, and Sir Elton John.

Kylie, Moby and McCartney Give Charity Canvases

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 18:44:33 -0000

Written by Steve Purcell

The Hospital Gallery in London’s Covent Garden is to exhibit a collection of celebrities’ paintings before they are sold at auction to aid Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Celebrity contributors to “The Alive and Well Dog Project” include artist Damien Hirst, and such stars as Kylie Minogue, Paul McCartney, Moby, legendary soccer player Pelé, and comedian Ricky Gervais. Each of the 130 contributed paintings is an interpretation of a doodled dog drawn by the six-year-old son of event organiser Simon Freedman. The auction could raise as much as £300,000 for the children’s hospital.

The exhibition will run from January 29 to February 7, with the auction taking place at the gallery itself on January 31. A book of the project will also be available, in a limited run of 600 copies.

Great Ormond Street Hospital was famously given the rights to “Peter Pan” by author J. M. Barrie.

Look To The Stars News: Kylie Minogue

Madonna To Attend AIDS Charity Cannes Event

Related past articles

Celebrities Clean Out Their Closets For Charity

Related past articles

Alicia Keys - As I Am

Related past articles

Children in Need

Related past articles

It's Never Too Crowded For Charity

Related past articles

Kylie, Clooney, Stone Boost AIDS Charity At Cannes Event

Related past articles

Kylie, Moby and McCartney Give Charity Canvases

Related past articles