Annie Lennox Gives Back On American Idol

Annie Lennox has long been an altruistic and socially-conscious artist, and tonight she joined the cast of American Idol to inspire television viewers to give back. Annie’s particular cause is the HIV/AIDS epidemic.Last year, the Idol Gives Back campaign raised $75 million for charitable organizations. This year the success of the viewer donations was based in large part on the performance by Annie Lennox.

Lennox performed on American Idol to raise money for her SING campaign, which raises awareness of the impact of HIV/AIDS on women and children in South Africa. Of the region’s crisis, she said,“My wake-up call was when Nelson Mandela personally used the word ‘genocide’ to describe what is actually taking place in South Africa. And the governments there have held a denialist stance for the last 10 years, with the health minister making claims that medication is more toxic than the virus itself. It’s very confusing and disturbing.”

In South Africa, one in three mothers-to-be are estimated to be infected with the AIDS virus. Annie’s goal is to help implement a nationwide prevention program to stop the transmission of AIDS from mother to child during birth.Annie’s most recent album is entitled Songs of Mass Destruction. On it, she wrote the song “Sing”, for which she recruited 23 female musicians. The divas included Madonna, Celine Dion, Shakira, Gladys Knight, and KT Tunstall.

Other celebrities making appearances at the 2008 Idol Gives Back event were Brad Pitt, Miley Cyrus, Rihanna, Ben Stiller, Fergie, Snoop Dogg, Bono, Peyton Manning, Mariah Carey, Reese Witherspoon, Gloria Estefan, John Legend, and Carrie Underwood. The show lasted two and a half hours at the Kodak Theater.

Annie Lennox Video