Usher To Donate Gadhafi Money To Charity

'I will be donating all of my personal proceeds...to various human rights organizations,' singer says of concert linked to Libyan dictator.
By Shawn Adler


Usher (file)
Photo: Getty Images

R&B superstar Usher announced Friday (March 4) that he was donating to various charities proceeds from appearing at a private event at St. Barts linked to Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, according to a statement made to the Associated Press.

The Grammy award winner's renouncement comes after similar announcements from singers Mariah Carey, Nelly Furtado, and Beyoncé, all of whom were revealed to have performed at private concerts linked to the Middle Eastern leader, who has faced open revolt and major political uprisings since February.

"I am sincerely troubled to learn about the circumstances surrounding the Nikki Beach St. Bart's event that took place on New Year's Eve 2009," Usher said of the concert, at which he appeared alongside Beyoncé but did not perform. "I will be donating all of my personal proceeds from that event to various human rights organizations."

Usher has already begun the process, having made a donation to Amnesty International, the AP reports. The exact size of the donation is not known.

The New Year's Eve gig was reportedly for Moammar's fourth son Muastassim, who an unnamed music industry source told MTV News has a history of throwing lavish parties "jammed" with supermodels.

Beyoncé, who sang at the event, donated all proceeds from her performance to the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund, established in the wake of the Haitian earthquake.

"All monies paid to Beyoncé for her performance at a private party at Nikki Beach St. Barts on New Year's Eve 2009, including the commissions paid to her booking agency, were donated to the earthquake relief efforts for Haiti over a year ago," the "Halo" singer's publicist said in a statement to The Huffington Post. "Once it became known that the third-party promoter was linked to the Qaddafi family, the decision was made to put that payment to a good cause."

Singer Nelly Furtado tweeted February 28 that she plans to make similar amends.

"In 2007, I received 1million$ from the Gadhafi clan to perform a 45 min. show for guests at a hotel in Italy," she tweeted. "I am going to donate the $."

The leader of Libya since a successful military coup in 1969, Gadhafi has reportedly lost control of much of his country as a result of widespread uprisings. The United Nations voted unanimously to refer the dictator to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

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Diddy-Dirty Money Begin 'Intimate' Coming Home Tour

Shows will look 'as dynamic and as emotional' as Last Train to Paris sounds, Diddy tells MTV News.
By Alvin Blanco, with reporting by Kelley L. Carter


Diddy
Photo: MTV News

Diddy-Dirty Money is making sure their Last Train to Paris album gets an extended shelf life. The Sean "Diddy" Combs-led trio is kicking off their Coming Home Tour on Wednesday (April 13) in Minneapolis. Over his almost 20-year recording career, the Bad Boy Records CEO has grown accustomed to rocking stadiums, but this tour will be hitting small venues during its month-long run.

"We wanted to do an intimate tour because it gives you a chance to play to the people that really love your music," Diddy told MTV News during a rehearsal break. "It's not as commercial as just going to an arena situation, which after this, we have different arena shows. The whole purpose of this was the reinvention, to do things that I haven't done before, for me to have new, different experiences and for me to really connect with people. ... I think there's no better way than to go and do an up close and personal tour."

While show locales might be smaller in scale, Diddy-Dirty Money will be backed by a band, and they plan on packing the same emotion and sonic passion found on the Last Train album into their shows.

"I just wanted it to look how it sounded," Diddy said. "As dynamic and as emotional as it sounds, that's the way it's going to look. I wanted to give people more than what they bargained for. Because in this viral age, I just wanted to imagine the first five dates and how every city, when people see the show, they'll be talking about it virally."

Prepping for the shows has shown the group's other members, singers Dawn Richards and Kalenna Harper, the intense side of Diddy as he makes sure the tour's stage show is perfect.

"The crazy thing about working with Puff is that we've learned to work around him, focusing and understanding it's a learning process," Harper said. "We're with somebody who's been in the industry for 20-some-odd years. So, for him to be focused on what the lights look like, what it should sound like, like he said, 'Looking out for the bullsh--,' that's something for us to pay attention to, and we're in the group with him."

After numerous delays, Last Train was released in December and landed at #7 on the Billboard albums chart. Most projects start winding down a few months after their release, but this group doesn't plan to let up anytime soon.

"That's the great thing about this group that I'm really excited about: our work ethic. There's no such thing as sleep," Richards said. "For us, this is the fun part. We been locked in the studio for three years trying to figure out what this [album] was going to be like. To finally have it come to pass and then to be able to sit here with the band and hear it live like this is really [exciting] for us."

Will you be seeing the Coming Home Tour? Tell us below!

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Lady Gaga To Donate 'Born This Way' Country Remix Proceeds To Charity

Gaga is giving some proceeds earned from the just-released 'Country Road Version' of her hit song to the gay-advocacy group GLSEN.
By Jocelyn Vena


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Late last month, Lady Gaga unveiled a guitar-searing, harmonica-infused, countrified version of her smash hit single, "Born This Way," via her Twitter account. Ten days after its debut, Gaga has officially released the track, and will donate some of the proceeds from the tune to charity.

A portion of the money earned from sales of "Born This Way (Country Road Version)" will go to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which, according to the organization's website, "strives to assure that each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression."

The country remix of the hit song, which was co-produced by Gaga and Fernando Garibay, boasts some new lyrics that play up the track's twangy influences. Over picked mandolin accompaniment, Gaga sings, "If I wanna make it country, baby, it's OK/ 'Cause I was born, I was born, I was born this way/ From London, Paris, Japan back to USA/ I was born on the road, I was born to be brave."

In February, during a chat on Gayle King's talk show, Gaga confirmed that there would be two videos for "Born This Way." The Nick Knight-directed, sci-fi-influenced clip for the song's original version dropped at the tail end of February. Meanwhile, there's no word when or if Gaga will ever release a video for the "stripped-down" country version of the track considering she just wrapped up work on her clip for Born This Way's second single, "Judas."

Do you plan to buy "Born This Way (Country Road Version)"? Tell us in the comments.

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