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8.19.08
Female Stars Team For Cancer Charity Tune
What would it sound like if 15 of the hottest female singers joined voices? The answer will be revealed Sept. 2.
That's when "Just Stand Up" hits airwaves and iTunes. The song features 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. All sales of the star-studded single will benefit cancer research.
The charity tune was conceived by Antonio "L.A." Reid, who produced it with longtime creative colleague Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds.
All 15 singers will share the stage to perform the song live on Sept. 5 during the "Stand Up to Cancer" television special, set to air simultaneously on ABC, NBC and CBS. Other stars expected to turn out for the hour-long fund- and awareness-raising program includeJennifer Aniston, Lance Armstrong, Katie Couric, Sally Field, Salma Hayek, Meryl Streep, Forest Whitaker and Reese Witherspoon.
Founded in 2007, Stand Up to Cancer is a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation that calls on entertainment-industry people and platforms to help fight cancer
www.KeithUrbanAuction.com is hosting the "You Look Good in My Old T-Shirt Auction," an online auction benefiting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The auction features a Stella McCartney shirt worn and donated by LeAnn Rimes!
The auction will offer fans the chance to not only win a completely unique and personal commemorative item from a favorite artist, but also contribute to a worthy cause. Fans can bid at the auction, which was named after Keith's hit single "You Look Good in My Shirt," by logging onto www.KeithUrbanAuction.com. All proceeds will go to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
From Music Row:
Choosing the top platter of the week was a lot more difficult. In varying ways, Josh Gracin, Jeffrey Steele, Josh Turner, Darryl Worley and Jake Owen are all offering exceptional sounds. But LeAnn Rimes stands out by virtue of a refreshingly different songwriting approach, a courageous vocal and a distinctive production. She takes on the boys and wins an upset Disc of the Day prize:
LEANN RIMES/What I Cannot Change
Writer: LeAnn Rimes/Darrell Brown; Producer: Dann Huff; Publisher: Curb Songs/Lucky in Love/Grey Ink/Fran Am, ASCAP; Curb (track)
—The track is seductively moody, featuring beautifully arranged strings and delicate piano work. The ballad takes unexpected melodic turns as it twirls in the wind. Her vocal leaps into high-soprano notes that tickle the ears, and the lyric has truth. Very creative and highly recommended.
When LeAnn Rimes enters a recording studio, she carries with her the most impressive instrument in the room. Indeed, Rimes’ voice is extraordinary, a stunning combination of natural talent and technical precision, bathed in character and a timbre that is instantly identifiable.
But Rimes’ has a tendency to favor tempo, to chase radio trends, and to embrace the bombastic. And so her albums are typically ripe with predictably crescendoing power ballads and overproduced, pointlessly busy tracks that leave her magnificent voice buried in the mix.
“What I Cannot Change” is one of the rare instances, as was 2005’s “Probably Wouldn’t Be This Way,” when Rimes’ immense talent shines through the Nashville slickness that clutters her catalog. Here, producer Dann Huff smartly keeps the song’s piano and strings-driven arrangement sparse, allowing the track to serve as a backdrop for the real show—a tremendously sensitive vocal performance that is easily one of the most nuanced of Rimes’ career......
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