Miley Cyrus is making a difference in Haiti by helping the Starkey Hearing Foundation hand out hearing aids.
“This second mission to Haiti was just as impactful to me as the first one,” said Cyrus. “I grew up around music and couldn’t imagine what it would be like for my siblings and me, if we couldn’t hear the magic of music. It’s had such an influence on my life, that I just want everyone to enjoy sound as it was intended.”
Miley is proving she is grounded and has a caring side.
Singer Wyclef Jean is recovering after being shot in the hand in Delmas, Haiti on Saturday, March 20, 2011.
According to Us Magazine, the 41-year-old recording artist was shot just after 11 p.m. in Delmas near Port-au-Prince on Saturday. In the hours after shooting, Jean’s management took to his Twitter account, to let his followers know he was doing okay, “We have spoken to Wyclef, he is ok. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.”
His spokesperson also confirmed that after the injury, Jean was, “immediately taken to the hospital, treated for a minor graze to his hand and released.”
Happy to hear that the Haitian-born artist is, in fact, doing well. Though details about the shooting have yet to be reported, Wyclef was in Haiti to support Michel Martelly in the presidential runoff elections on Sunday. Martelly, like Jean, is a Haitian recording artist and activist, and is running against the former first lady, Mirlande Manigat.
Something you may not have known? Jean himself, announced in 2010 that he was to run for president of Haiti, but was ruled ineligible in August because his primary residence is in New Jersey. His rep said that, “Wyclef’s commitment to his native country and to his people is unparalleled. He is therefore undeterred by this incident.”
Good on Wyclef. Though the injury no doubt stopped any last-minute campaigning, it’s admirable to see internationally-born artists taking pride and responsibility for the future of their homelands. Though many recording artists choose to shy away from politics, Jean’s involvement and concern for Haiti remains evident. Even more commendable is his participation considering the fact he isn’t a permanent resident.
The results of the election between Manigat and Martelly will be released on April 16, but don’t expect Wyclef to be on bed rest until then – the man is staying alive.
Singer Wyclef Jean has given up his bid for President of Haiti. This is a month after Haitian officials barred his candidacy on legal grounds.
“After weeks of quiet but painstaking reflection with my wife and daughter, I have chosen to end my bid for the presidency of Haiti,” the musician, 40, said, according to a BBC report.
Jean was told he didn’t meet the requirements for President since he has lived in the U.S. for years. He has launched an appeal.
“The appeal was meant to improve the electoral process for all, candidates and voters alike,” he says. “It is one way that I hope to bring light to the functioning of a government that is often ranked as one of the most corrupt on the planet, resulting in a country that is by most measures the poorest in the Western world.”
Wyclef Jean’s Haitian presidential candidacy might be over before it really even started. As E! Online reports, Jean’s name didn’t appear on a list of approved candidates for the presidency.
An election official told Reuters that “he is not on the list as I speak,” confirming the news.
The current list isn’t official, so there is still a slim chance that Jean might appear on the ballot—The Provisional Electoral Council is set to announce the official list Friday.
It’s unclear why Jean’s name wasn’t included, but speculation has been directed toward the legitimacy of his qualifications that are required to run. Some are unsure whether Jean has actually lived in Haiti for five years; though he was born in the country, he moved to the United States as a child.
Jean maintains confidence though, he told the Miami Herald, “My lawyers have produced every piece of document that has been asked for,” continuing, “No one can say that there is any flaw.”
I guess we’ll have to wait and see on Friday.
Wyclef Jean announced that he will be running as a candidate for president of Haiti Thursday, and it wasn’t long before criticism started to come his way, reports E! Online. Sean Penn appeared on CNN Thursday to publicly criticize Jean and what he believes his motives are being influenced by.
“Right now, I worry that this is a campaign that is more about a vision of flying around the world talking to people, it’s certainly not about the youth drafting him,” said Penn, commenting on Jean’s earlier statement about the youth of Haiti drafting him, rather than him simply running for president.
Penn, who currently resides in Haiti doesn’t believe that the response inside the country is anywhere near the kind of anticipation that people in the United States are building it up to be.
“This is somebody who’s going to receive an enormous amount of his support, if he continues this campaign, from the United States,” said Penn. “I have to say, I’m very suspicious of it, simply because he, as an ambassador-at-large, has been virtually silent. For those of us in Haiti, he has been a non-presence.”
“One of the reasons I don’t know much about Wyclef Jean is I haven’t seen or heard anything in these last six months that I’ve been in Haiti. I think he’s an important voice, I hope he doesn’t sacrifice that voice by taking the eye off the very devastating realities off the ground and the very different strategic future it’s got in putting itself back together.”
It’s clear how Sean Penn feels about Wyclef Jean’s candidacy, what do you think?
Well he has done a ton in the music world, now it’s time to try the political world. CNN reports that musician Wyclef Jean will announce his candidacy for the President of Haiti on Thursday’s edition of “Larry King Live.”
Other details are very sketchy at this time, but sources do confirm Wycelf’s appearance on the CNN show. There have been rumors circulating for months that he may run for President. He even wrote a song called “If I Was President.”
Wyclef was born in Haiti but moved to Brooklyn soon after. PopEater reports that to run for president, Jean must prove he’s resided in Haiti for five consecutive years, that he owns property in the country and that he has no other citizenship but Haitian
Quirky pop singer Regina Spektor has covered Radiohead’s “No Surprises” off of their hit OK Computer with all proceeds going to relief efforts in Haiti and Chile, reports Stereogum.
Her haunting take on the song is definitely worth a listen, which you can do here.
Spektor blogged, “i LOVE [Radiohead], and thank them for donating their proceeds too!!! they are the best!”
The song can be bought on iTunes. All proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders, who will then distribute the money to various aid projects for the earthquake victims in Chile and Haiti. On March 23, Spektor played at New York City’s Irving Plaza for a special Doctors Without Borders benefit concert.
During a rescue mission to Haiti, actor Sean Penn personally saved at least two lives, reports TMZ. He and his daughter Dylan drove an hour-and-a-half to rescue a woman and an orphaned child who were trapped in rubble outside the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.
Vampire Weekend, Beck, Of Montreal and Noah and the Whale are among the artists who are set to appear on an upcoming Haiti benefit album, reports NME.com.
“Hear To Help,” a collaboration between Filter Magazine and American Eagle, will raise money for Oxfam America’s Haitian relief effort.
The CD will be sold through American Eagle stores in North America for $10, and an online version will be released tomorrow (Wednesday, Feb. 24) from AE.com.
Check out the “Hear to Help” track list:
Although the Haiti relief effort has lost some attention from the media in recent weeks, this still remains a serious humanitarian issue. To help raise funds, CP Records had some amazing Canadian Urban artists perform a benefit concert to help raise money. We had a chance to speak to Choclair, Karl Wolf, Danny Fernandes, and Belly who all performed at the event.
BET’s “SOS Save Ourselves: Help for Haiti” telethon was studded with stars, talent and a positive message Friday night. MTV news reports that Queen Latifah, Diddy and Pharrell spearheaded the event that was held at the American Airlines arena in Miami, and encouraged viewers to donate to the cause of Haiti.
The night opened with Wyclef Jean and Mavado’s performance of “Hold On”. Clef, who brought Haitian MCs to perform alongside him, told the audience he wanted to teach them “Creole 101”. The Haitian born rapper transitioned into a mini-set that began with “Sweetest Girl”, with Akon making an appearance. After doing “I’mma Zoe” with Haitian singer Black Dada the performance ended with everyone waving Haitian flags.
MTV News reports that Lil Wayne expressed how honored and touched he was to be taking over Bob Dylan’s part on the remake of “We are the World.” He was soft-spoken and polite to reporters during the recording session, but one of the world’s biggest rap stars had one big – and gutsy – thing to say.
“I think it’s amazing what’s been done for Haiti,” Wayne said in a tent outside of the Him Henson Recording Studios in Hollywood. Right before walking away, he adds, “but I also think it’s amazing what hasn’t been done for New Orleans. Thank you!”
Wayne, who grew up in New Orleans and now resides in Miami, smiled, turned and left the crowd without taking any further questions.
He spoke of the impact that Haiti has had on him, “I have a few Haitian friends so it impacted me seriously because some of them lost some of their kids and I had to help out with those situations.”
The comment reminded writers of the notorious comment made by Kanye West: “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” during the 2005 all-star benefit for victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
They may have been beat out by Taylor Swift for the Album of the Year Grammy Award, but the Dave Matthews Band are still aware of what’s really important.
In an effort to help the ongoing devastation in Haiti, The Dave Matthews Band has put together a special EP that they called The Haiti Relief Project, reports perezhilton.com.
Looking for a way to give back to Haiti but not sure how?
Look no further. On Tuesday, February 2, Jezebel Burlesque and andPOP will be hosting Get Your Heart on for Haiti.
The night will be packed with some amazing local music, including The Godfrey Medicine Show, Anne Crawley, and Blackie Jacket Jr., while DJ Greg Goldsack spins out some killer beats.
If you want a true testament to the power of music, look no further than Radiohead.
On Sunday (Jan. 24), the hugely popular alternative band took a break from recording their next album to perform a show at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Hollywood and raise money for Haiti earthquake relief, reports rollingstone.com.
“This is how much money we made,” said singer-guitarist Thom Yorke as he was handed the final tally late into the two-hour concert. “Gross: Fuck me! $572,774 [U.S.]!”
Yepp – More Haitian relief.
Pop-punkers Blink-182 can now be added to the long list of celebrities who have contributed to Haitian aid.
The band has released a new t-shirt with the “Blink-182 bunny” holding a Haitian flag, and according to Mark Hoppus’s twitter account, the shirts are being sold for $15 with one hundred per cent of the proceeds going directly to the Red Cross.
After only a few days, the shirts have already raised $30,000.00.
Lindsay Lohan has lost her blond hair and is now brunette. Lindsay debuted her new style Wednesday night at Edeyo benefit event held at Ron Burkle’s Beverly Hills estate. The event was hosted by Mark Whalberg and Ben Silverman and brought out a huge celebrity crew like Jeremy Piven, David Spade, Busta Rhymes, and many more.
Wade McNeil, guitarist/vocalist of Alexisonfire, stated that his band will be taking an extra step to help those in need in Haiti.
The statement is as follows:
“In light of the recent tragedy in Haiti, we [Alexisonfire] have been thinking about how to help. With a disaster of this magnitude, we feel the easiest way for us to get involved is by donating money.
This will help get clean water, sanitation and medical supplies, food, and temporary shelter to the people who need it the most in Jacmel and Port-au-Prince. We will be donating all the proceeds from our online store for the month of January to the relief effort.”
As the devastation in Haiti continues in the aftermath of Tuesday’s horrifying 7.0 earthquake, the rest of the world is stepping up the compassion like never before.
Oscar winner George Clooney jumped up right away and started to organize a global telethon to rally support and raise money to help the struggling country. On the red carpet of the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday night (Jan. 17), Clooney talked about how the MTV Networks-sponsored benefit came about, reports MTVnews.com.
“You guys started it,” he said to MTV. “The first call I made was to Judy [McGrath, MTV Networks' chief executive]. She said, ‘Yes, everybody will do it, everybody’s in,’ and that they were thinking of doing it too. They got the ball rolling and we got every single network after that. So congratulations to you.”
In the days since the benefit was first announced, singer Wyclef Jean and CNN’s Anderson Cooper have joined on as hosts; Jean will broadcast from the telethon in New York, while Cooper will broadcast from Haiti. The show will air commercial-free on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, the CW, HBO, MTV, VH1 and CMT on Friday, Jan. 22 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. All donations will go directly to Oxfam America, Partners in Health, Red Cross, UNICEF and Wyclef’s Yele Haiti Foundation. Facebook and MySpace have joined ship and are acting as official social-media partners to help steer viewers to the telethon and spark donations.
Amy Millan is helping out to raise money for Haiti
While Hollywood and the rest of the world organize to provide relief for the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti, Canadian stars are lending their support, reports CBC.
Ottawa poet Oni the Haitian Sensation put on a benefit concert at Babylon nightclub Thursday. Others with family in Haiti also performed, such as Cuban musician Cesar Ricardo and Staff 613, a band who plays Haitian music. About 200 people attended, raising $8,000 for Humanitarian Coalition.
Ottawa’s Haitian community is also planning a fundraiser Jan. 22 at Maison du Citoyen in Gatineau, QC.
