More than a dozen of the world's most accomplished female recording artists -- a cast that includes Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Fergie, Sheryl Crow, Miley Cyrus, Melissa Etheridge, Ashanti, Natasha Bedingfield, Keyshia Cole, Ciara, Leona Lewis, LeAnn Rimes, and Carrie Underwood -- have joined together for "Just Stand Up," an unprecedented charity single in support of Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), a new initiative to raise philanthropic dollars for accelerating ground-breaking cancer research.
"Just Stand Up" was conceived by Antonio "L.A." Reid, Chairman, Island Def Jam Music Group, after a powerful and inspiring meeting with the women who organized the Stand Up To Cancer campaign (whom Reid affectionately dubbed the "magnificent seven"). The song was produced by L.A. and Kenny 'Babyface' Edmonds -- their first creative reunion on record in nearly two decades. "Just Stand Up" will be released to radio and will be available to purchase exclusively on the iTunes Store starting September 2nd.
"Just Stand Up" is all about the singers and the composers banding together behind SU2C's mission: rallying the public around the goal of ending cancer's reign as a leading cause of death. The all-star television performance premiere of the song will take place live on Friday, September 5th (8pm EDT and PDT), when ABC, CBS, and NBC simultaneously devote one hour of commercial-free prime time to this nationwide event. This will be the first simultaneous cross-network broadcast ever to raise funds for the fight against a disease.
In addition to performances by legendary recording artists, the Stand Up To Cancer special will feature stars from film and television who will perform as well as present filmed content giving viewers insight into cancer. Various screening tests will be demonstrated in novel and entertaining ways.
Network news anchors Charles Gibson, Katie Couric and Brian Williams will report on potentially life-saving research, speaking with both patients and scientists. Laura Ziskin will produce the September 5th broadcast. Ziskin is a cancer survivor and her film credits include the Spider-Man trilogy, As Good As It Gets, and Pretty Woman, and she also produced the 74th and 79th Annual Academy Awards.
As of today, celebrities confirmed for the broadcast (both for personal appearances or answering telephone calls) include: Casey Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Christina Applegate, Lance Armstrong, Abigail Breslin, Josh Brolin, David Cook, Katie Couric, Dana Delany, Fran Drescher, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kirsten Dunst, Elizabeth Edwards, Jon Favreau, America Ferrera, Charles Gibson, Neil Patrick Harris, Salma Hayek, Scarlett Johansson, Masi Oka, Danica Patrick, Christina Ricci, Robin Roberts, Homer Simpson, Marge Simpson, Meryl Streep, Hilary Swank, Charlize Theron, Goran Visnjic, Forest Whitaker, Brian Williams and Reese Witherspoon. Additional participants and musical performers are still to be announced.
Since its formation, SU2C has been embraced en masse by the entertainment community which is supporting a host of creative projects across a wide array of platforms on the web in order to ignite passion in the American people so they realize that significant advances in cancer treatment are within reach.
There is plenty to view and link to on SUTC's website including a variety of PSAs (featuring Jessica Biel, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Jodie Foster, Morgan Freeman, Tony Hawk, Tobey Maguire, Sidney Poitier, Keanu Reeves, Susan Sarandon, Tilda Swinton, Christy Turlington Burns, and others); as well as videos on the SUTV channel (with the cast of The Daily Show, Larry David, Ryan Seacrest, and others).
Stand Up To Cancer is a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, and was established by a group of media, entertainment and philanthropic leaders, whose lives have all been affected by cancer in significant ways. Stand Up To Cancer is bringing industry resources -- people, as well as mediums such as television and the web -- to bear in the fight against cancer as never before.
The full list of singers includes Leona Lewis, Natasha Beddingfield, Beyonce, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Fergie, Ciara, Melissa Etheridge, Sheryl Crow, LeAnn Rimes, Ashanti, Carrie Underwood and Keyshia Cole.
Listen to it here.
