Musicians Unite for Haiti

by Kelly

It’s been 47 days since a massive earthquake hit Haiti, killing 200,000 people and leaving millions homeless.  It seems like so long ago now and our memory is so short in these days of instant news and 24 hour access.  There have been a number of other big stories since January 12th – the Olympic Games, music, tv and film awards shows and most recently, another devasting earthquake in Chile.

Happily however, people are still giving to ease the suffering in Haiti.   The music community in particular has put together a number of different projects to benefit Haiti.   I thought #musicmonday might be a good day to post about them.

The most recent, a remake of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins 1956 hit “I Put A Spell On You” was premiered at the NME Awards on February 24th and will be released on March 8th.  Produced by Shane McGowan and Mick Jones, it features Chrissie Hynde, Nick Cave, Paloma Faith, Glen Matlock, Bobby Gillespie, Stereophonics and Johnny Depp (on guitar) and is being billed as “the coolest” Haiti charity single.  I wasn’t able to find a comprehensive list of everyone performing on the single, so please, note anyone I’ve missed in the comments.

You can see a short “making of” video and interview here.

Of course, there is the much-publicized remake of “We Are The World”  called “We Are The World 25 For Haiti” produced by Rickey Minor and RedOne with producers from the original, Quincy Jones and Lionel Ritchie acting as executive producers.  It was released on February 12th during the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

In order of appearance:

• Justin Bieber
• Nicole Scherzinger
• Jennifer Hudson
• Jennifer Nettles
• Josh Groban
• Tony Bennett
• Mary J. Blige
• Michael Jackson (stock footage)
• Janet Jackson
• Barbra Streisand
• Miley Cyrus
• Enrique Iglesias
• Jamie Foxx
• Wyclef Jean
• Adam Levine
• Pink
• BeBe Winans
• Usher
• Celine Dion
• Orianthi (on guitar)
• Fergie
• Nick Jonas
• Toni Braxton
• Mary Mary
• Isaac Slade
• Lil Wayne
• Carlos Santana (on guitar)
• Akon
• T-Pain
• LL Cool J (rap)
• Will.i.am (rap)
• Snoop Dogg (rap)
• Busta Rhymes (rap)
• Swizz Beatz (rap)
• Iyaz (rap)
• Nipsey Hussle (rap)
• Kanye West

Released under the title “Helping Haiti“, Simon Cowell produced this charity single which is a remake of R.E.M.‘s “Everybody Hurts”.  It received a lot of press because the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, waived VAT (short for Value Added Tax, it’s the Bristish version of  the GST) and R.E.M. waived all royalties.  This video was released on Superbowl Sunday, February 7th.

In order of appearance:

• Leona Lewis
• Rod Stewart
• Mariah Carey
• Cheryl Cole
• Mika
• Michael Bublé
• Joe McElderry
• Miley Cyrus
• James Blunt
• Gary Barlow (of Take That)
• Mark Owen (of Take That)
• Jon Bon Jovi
• James Morrison
• Alexandra Burke
• Susan Boyle
• Aston Merrygold (of JLS)
• Marvin Humes (of JLS)
• Shane Filan (of Westlife)
• Mark Feehily (of Westlife)
• Kylie Minogue
• Robbie Williams

There are a couple of other charity efforts underway including Paste Magazine’s “Songs for Haiti”.  Donate and get a free MP3 download.  Also of note is Linkin Park’s charity Music for Relief release “Download to Donate”, a widget with free downloadable music from artists like Peter Gabriel, Alanis Morissette and The Dave Mathews Band.