Idol Gives Back (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Idol Gives Back is the name of a charitable campaign that spanned two episodes of American Idol.

Details

On the March 8 2007 American Idol results show, Ryan Seacrest announced an initiative to give back to people in poverty in both Africa and the United States (including those affected by Hurricane Katrina). For every vote cast after the April 24 2007 broadcast, sponsors donated funds to the Charity Projects Entertainment Fund. The event was thought of by British writer Richard Curtis, who took the basic premise for the show from his similar UK based annual charity event Comic Relief.

Charities

The Charity Projects Entertainment Fund distributes the money raised to Save the Children, America's Second Harvest, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Children"s Health Fund to help disadvantaged children in the United States. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria, Malaria No More, Nothing But Nets, Save the Children, and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF will receive money to fund programs in Africa.

Performances

Between contestant performances, video vignettes showcasing the judges and Seacrest visiting and observing stark conditions in Africa and United States were aired. Similar vignettes were aired during the results show. For this special, the voting period was doubled to four hours following the show, rather than the usual two. In response to the anticipated call volume, each contestant was assigned two toll free numbers. Over 70 million votes were cast.

The results show was broadcast from two locations"the regular American Idol stage and Disney Hall"and included celebrity actors and personalities: Kirstie Alley, Marc Anthony, Gillian Anderson, Kevin Bacon, Antonio Banderas, Jason Biggs, Blue Man Group, Jack Black, Emily Blunt, Bono, Michael Buble, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Cruise, Matt Damon, Chris Daughtry, Micky Dolenz, Kyle Gass, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Hugh Grant, Teri Hatcher, Goldie Hawn, LeBron James, Chris Kattan, Keira Knightley, Lisa Kudrow, Hugh Laurie, Rob Lowe, Joel Madden, Benji Madden, Madonna, Eric McCormack, Ewan McGregor, Kevin McNally, Helen Mirren, Parminder Nagra, Shaquille O'Neal, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bernadette Peters, Dr. Phil, Miss Piggy, Seal, Rob Schneider, David Schwimmer, Ben Stiller, Twiggy, Harvey Weinstein, Forest Whitaker. The show also included numerous performers; for a full list of performances, see below. Ellen DeGeneres co-hosted the event from the Disney Hall stage. Proceeds from ticket sales benefited the fund. Videos of the results show's performances are available for purchase on iTunes, with proceeds going to charity.

Due to the "charity" theme of the show, no contestant was eliminated on the April 25th results show. All of the votes from that week were added to the next week's votes, and the bottom two contestants were eliminated.

Performers

Earth, Wind, and Fire - Medley: "Boogie Wonderland," "Shining Star," "September"
Top 6 Contestants - "Time To Care," an anthem written and composed specially for the occasion by Quincy Jones, who conducted the band.
Ben Stiller threatened to badly sing a rendition of Little River Band's "Reminiscing" until a total of $200,000,000,000 in donations was reached. Throughout the show, the camera cut to him continuing to sing as the goal was not reached.
Il Divo - "Somewhere" (from West Side Story)
Carrie Underwood performed "I'll Stand By You" in Africa, which was used as soundtrack for a video vignette.
Jack Black humorously performed an excerpt of Seal's "Kiss from a Rose" for the judges, as Kyle Gass sat in the audience holding a rose, acting moved by the song. Randy and Paula panned his performance, with Paula mentioning that "the School of Rock called; they want their diploma back." Simon Cowell remarked that he was "better than Sanjaya." When asked by the judges, however, Seal jokingly proclaimed Black's performance the best rendition of "Kiss from a Rose" that he ever heard.
Fergie - performes her fourth single (fan favorite) song, "Big Girls Don't Cry", from her duebt album The Dutchess.
Rascal Flatts - "My Wish"
Numerous actors and celebrities lip-synced and danced to The Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" in a humorous music video.
Josh Groban backed by the African Children's Choir - "You Raise Me Up"
Kelly Clarkson with Jeff Beck - Patty Griffin's "Up to the Mountain (MLK Song)"
A The Simpsons animated short was aired with Bart as Ryan, Marge imitating Randy, Lisa imitating Paula, and Homer imitating Simon while listening to a much mellowed Simon Cowell's audition of "Don't Cha."
Celine Dion duet with Elvis Presley (together on stage with use of rotoscoping) - "If I Can Dream"
Annie Lennox - "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
Top 6 Contestants - "American Prayer"

Missing performers

Other musicians, such as Pink and Gwen Stefani, were advertised and scheduled to perform on the show, but neither of their performances were aired. Although their numbers were pre-taped along with the other guests', American Idol claimed they were not broadcast due to time constraints, but that their appearances will be featured in future episodes of the show. Gwen Stefani sang during the season finale, however it was a performance aired via satellite, and not the one she had pre-recorded for Idol Gives Back.

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