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Music Biz Sings for Hurricane Victims
10/18/2005 5:03 PM, E! Online
Charlie Amter
How big of impact did the hurriane-wrought devastation have on
Hollywood? So big even miserly record labels are coming together to help
out hurricane victims.
Like the TV networks before them, the
usually competitive major labels, Universal Music Group, EMI, Sony/BMG
and Warner Music Group, are joining forces with many of their A-list
acts for an unprecedented double-disc album benefiting victims of both
Katrina and Rita.
Hurricane Relief: Come Together Now
will be released in mid-November, the record companies announced Monday.
It will contain brand-new songs written in the wake of the killer
storms, previously unreleased studio recordings and live performances,
and classic cuts by legendary New Orleans artists. The Recording
Industry Association of America, the trade group representing the music
biz, says 100 percent of net proceeds will be shared among the American
Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity and MusiCares Hurricane Relief Fund.
The disc, which will retail for $20, includes two "We Are the
World"-style all-star collaborations that originally came together
following last winter's tsunami tragedy in Asia.
"Come
Together Now" features vocals by Celine Dion, Patti LaBelle, Joss Stone,
Ruben Studdard, the Game, Aaron Carter, Nick Carter, A.J. McLean, ,
Natalie Cole, Chingy, JoJo, Mya, Angie Stone, Kimberly Locke, John
Legend, Gavin DeGraw, Jesse McCartney, Anthony Hamilton, Brian McKnight,
Stacie Orrico, Kelly Price, Lee Ryan, Garu, Glenn Lewis, Tren'l and R.L.
Huggar. The song was written and produced, in part, by a rather unlikely
songwriter: Sharon Stone.
The Sharon Osbourne-produced cover
of Eric Clapton's somber 1992 hit "Tears in Heaven" will also be
included. The track features contributions from Elton John, Ringo Starr,
Ozzy Osbourne, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart, Gwen Stefani, Pink, Josh Groban, Steven Tyler, Velvet Revolver, Gavin Rossdale, Mary J. Blige,
Kelly Osbourne, Katie Melua and even Robert Downey Jr.
Both
tracks are also be available for download at iTunes Music Store
beginning Tuesday.
Among the other hurricane-specific songs
making their debut on CD: the Norah Jones-Wyclef Jean benefit single
"Any Other Day," previously only available through MSN Music; the new
ballad "Heart of America," featuring Michael McDonald, Wynona Judd and
Eric Benet, along with Terry Dexter and the First Full Gospel Choir of
New Orleans, which served as the soundtrack for hurricane coverage on
NBC's Today Show; Barbra Streisand's never before released "I
Believe" (not to be confused with Lenny Kravitz's similarly titled
"Believe," also included); and the John Mayer and Aaron Neville duet,
"Heart So Heavy."
One much-hyped cut that is notably MIA is
Michael Jackson's "From the Bottom of My Heart." While Jackson is in
London working "full-speed ahead" on the track, which is supposed to
feature vocals from Mariah Carey, Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, R. Kelly, Lenny
Kravitz, Lauryn Hill, James Brown and Snoop Dogg, one unnamed
participant told the Los Angeles Times this weekend that the song
"was going nowhere."
Meanwhile, Hurricane Relief will
feature several live tracks, including Coldplay's "Fix You," James
Brown's "Try Me," Gloria Estefan's "Coming Out of the Dark/Always
Tomorrow" and Elton John's "I'm Still Standing," recorded in New
Orleans.
The Crescent City vibe permeates the album thanks to
contributions from natives like Neville Brothers ("Brothers"), Fats Domino ("Walking to New Orleans"), Harry Connick Jr. ("City Beneath the
Sea") and Louis Armstrong ("Do You Know What It Means to Miss New
Orleans"), as well as thematic cuts like John Fogerty's "Born on the
Bayou," the Dave Matthews Band-Robert Randolph "Louisiana Bayou,"
Sting's "Moon over Bourbon Street," Clint Black's "The Great
Mississippi Flood" and Kirk Whalum and Coolio's "When the Saints Go
Marching In."
Among the other tracks confirmed so far: Brian
Wilson's "Love and Mercy"; Bonnie Raitt's "I Will Not Be Broken"; and
Earth, Wind and Fire's "Devotion." Additional artists are expected to
be announced in the coming days.
"Flooded streets, shattered
lives, broken hearts, yet through it all, the music never dies," says
Connick. "This CD helps us heal a place that has given so much music to
the world."
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