Idol Gives Back

infobox Organization
name = Idol Gives Back

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image_border =
size = 250px
caption = "Idol Gives Back."
abbreviation =
motto =
formation = April 24, 2007
extinction =
type = INGO
status = Foundation
purpose = Raising money for underprivileged children worldwide.
headquarters =
location =
region_served=
membership =
language = English
leader_title =
leader_name = Nigel Lythgoe
Ken Warwick
Cecile Frot-Coutaz
main_organ =
parent_organization = American Idol
affiliations =
num_staff =
num_volunteers =
budget =
website = http://www.americanidol.com
remarks =

Idol Gives Back is the name of a charitable campaign that spanned two episodes of "American Idol" during its sixth season. A second Idol Gives Back concert and fundraiser occurred on April 9, 2008, during the seventh season of the show. [cite web | url = http://www.americanidol.com/news/view/?pid=1114 | title = "Idol Gives Back" Returns This Season! | publisher = americanidol.com]

Details

"Idol Gives Back" was the result of a collaboration between American Idol creator Simon Fuller and British writer Richard Curtis. 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 for the April 24, 2007 broadcast, sponsors donated funds to the Charity Projects Entertainment Fund. Richard Curtis and Simon Fuller took the basic premise for the show from the UK based annual charity event Comic Relief, and spent 12 months adapting the concept and re-shaping it for a mainstream American audience. The 2007 event was co-hosted by comedian/talk show host, Ellen DeGeneres.

ponsors

2007

News Corp pledged to donate 10 cents for every vote made to the show for the first 50 million calls, that is, up to $5 million. MySpace created a special profile page for the event in order to spread the word. [ [http://www.myspace.com/idolgivesback MySpace:Idol Gives Back] ] Donations from viewers were accepted by phone and website during the April 25 2007 results show, in a manner similar to a telethon. Near the end of the broadcast, Seacrest announced the show raised $30 million, with the final tally coming on May 1, 2007. As of May 1, 2007, over $70 million has been raised as a result of "Idol Gives Back".

In addition to public and News Corp donations, regular show sponsors and special contributors donated funds. These companies include The Coca-Cola Company, Ford Motor Company, AT&T, Allstate, and ExxonMobil.

2008

The donation-per-vote model was dropped in favor of direct sponsor donations from The Coca-Cola Company, Exxon Mobil, Ford Motor Company, iTunes, etc. and individual viewer donations made by phone and on the "American Idol" website. Exclusive videos of the night's performances were available for purchase on iTunes, with proceeds going towards the donation total. On the April 10, 2008 results show, Ryan Seacrest announced the running total raised to be $60 million, with the opportunity to donate still open.

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. [ [http://www.americanidol.com/news/view/?pid=765 American Idol News Blog, "$60 Million and Counting!"] ]

Idol Gives Back 2007

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. [ [http://www.americanidol.com/news/view/?pid=765 American Idol News Blog, "$60 Million and Counting!"] ] 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

The performers included: [ [http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117933449.html?categoryid=34&cs=1 American Idol: Idol Gives Back Review - Music Reviews-Recently Reviewed, Entertainment - Variety ] ]
* 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. Black also incorrectly identified "Kiss From a Rose" as being a song from the "Batman Returns" soundtrack. The track was actually featured in the third edition in the Batman series, "Batman Forever".
* Fergie - performs her fourth single (fan favorite) song, "Big Girls Don't Cry", from her debut 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"
* A "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" [ [http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3094366 "Elvis on 'Idol:' How It Was Done"] from ABC News, accessed April 27, 2007.]
* Annie Lennox - "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
* Top 6 Contestants - "American Prayer"
* Green Day - "Working Class Hero"

Missing performers

Other musicians, such as Pink and Gwen Stefani, were advertised and scheduled to perform on the show, [ [http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1554274/20070309/stefani_gwen.jhtml MTV News, "Gwen Stefani, Pink, Borat Team Up For 'Idol' Charity Special"] ] 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. [ [http://music.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1297400.php/Gwen_and_Pink_get_the_boot_from_%93Idol_Gives_Back%94 "Gwen and Pink get the boot from “Idol Gives Back”"] ] Gwen Stefani sang during the season finale, however it was a performance aired via satellite, [ [http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/05/23/american.idol.ap/index.html CNN.com, "And the 'American Idol' winner is ..."] ] and not the one she had pre-recorded for "Idol Gives Back." Pink's performance was shown on one of the later episodes of the season.

Idol Gives Back 2008

The initiative returned on April 9 for a second consecutive year. The format changed slightly from 2007; the episode aired as its own special on "Idol"'s regular Wednesday results night with an early start time of 7:30 p.m. EDT (when stations would've otherwise shown local programming), running for 152 minutes from the Kodak Theatre and the regular "Idol" stage. The results show aired separately that Thursday. Vignettes showing celebrities visiting impoverished areas in the United States as well as Africa were again shown in between performances. Producers are hoping to exceed last year's $76 million raised. Again, proceeds will go to children's charities in Africa and the United States.

The following celebrities appeared or performed on the 2008 show, as well as the following results show: Adam Sandler, Alicia Keys, Annie Lennox, Ashley Tisdale, Barack Obama, Ben Stiller, Brad Pitt, Billy Crystal, Billy Ray Cyrus, Bono, Boyz II Men, Carrie Underwood, Cat Deeley, Celine Dion, Charlie Wilson, Cheryl Hines, Chris Brown, Chris Daughtry, Chris Jericho, Dane Cook, Daughtry, David Beckham, David Spade, Dr. Phil, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Eddie Izzard, Eli Manning, Ellen DeGeneres, Elliott Yamin, Emma Bunton, Fantasia, Felicity Huffman, Fergie, Forest Whitaker, George Lopez, Geri Halliwell, Gloria Estefan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown, Heart, Hillary Clinton, Jack Nicholson, James Denton, Jennifer Connelly, Jim Carrey, Jimmie Johnson, Jimmy Kimmel (who roasted Simon Cowell), John Cena, John Legend, John McCain, Jonas Brothers, Jordin Sparks, Julianne Moore, Keith Urban, Kiefer Sutherland, Kobe Bryant, Kylie Minogue, Kyra Sedgwick, Mariah Carey, First Lady of California Maria Shriver, Maroon 5, Mary Murphy, Michael Kors, Michael Chiklis, Miley Cyrus, Minnie Driver, Nigel Lythgoe, Peyton Manning, Reese Witherspoon, Ricki Lake, Rob Schneider, Robin Williams (as "Bob" the "Russian Idol"), Roselyn Sanchez, Ryan Sheckler, Sarah Silverman, Selma Blair, Sheila E., Snoop Dogg, "So You Think You Can Dance" Season 2 and 3 finalists, Taylor Swift, Teddy Reilly, Teri Hatcher, Toby Keith, The Game, The Clark Brothers, Cole and Dylan Sprouse, Triple H, Tyra Banks, Vanessa Hudgens, Victoria Beckham and Whoopi Goldberg. [All made special guest appearances, promoting viewiers to donate] [ [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/show/CTVShows/20080408/presidential_idol_080408/20080408/ CTV.ca | Presidential hopefuls among 'Idol Gives Back' stars ] ]

Ellen DeGeneres was originally going to reprise last year's co-hosting duties but had to pull out due to "a personal production pressure" according to producer Nigel Lythgoe. [ [http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Great-American-Idol/Mariah-Duets-Marvin/800036732 Mariah Duets with Marvin Gaye? Ellen Out? "Idol Gives Back" Updates] ] She still appeared during a short segment.

Performances

*"Idol" Top 8 sang Rihanna's "Don't Stop the Music" as past "So You Think You Can Dance" finalists performed various dance routines
*Snoop Dogg and Charlie Wilson performed "Can't Say Goodbye"
*Teri Hatcher (of "Desperate Housewives") performed Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats" with Band from TV
*Miley Cyrus performed "Good and Broken".
*Fergie performed her single "Finally" with John Legend playing the piano
*Heart performed "Barracuda" and were joined by Fergie
*Annie Lennox played the piano and performed "Many Rivers to Cross"
*Carrie Underwood sang George Michael's "Praying for Time"
*Jordin Sparks performs with Chris Brown in "No Air" and presented Platinum awards for singles "Tattoo" and "No Air" (over 1,000,000 units each) and Gold award for the "Jordin Sparks" album (over 500,000 units).
*Gloria Estefan performed "Get on Your Feet" featuring Sheila E. on percussion, as well as the "So You Think You Can Dance" finalists
*"Idol" Top 8 performed "Seasons of Love" from the musical "RENT"
*Miley Cyrus performed once more, singing "See You Again"
*Daughtry performed "What About Now" in a video of their trip to Uganda
*Mariah Carey performed "Fly Like a Bird" with Randy Jackson on bass guitar
*The Top 8 closed the show with the Christian anthem "Shout to the Lord"
*In a sequel to the previous year's "Staying Alive" video, a group of celebrities lip synced to The Monkees' "I'm a Believer" during Thursday's results show.

References

External links

* [http://www.americanidol.com/idolgivesback AmericanIdol.com/IdolGivesBack]
* [http://www.cpefund.org/ Charity Projects Entertainment Fund]

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMe8nIbbrh4 Youtube video explaining day of filming]
* [http://www.charitynavigator.org/ Charity Navigator ratings for American Idol Gives Back charities]