Wyclef Jean, Bono To Perform 'New Day' At Benefit

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9.1.99 - Sonicnet News

Duo to tape VH1 'Storytellers' performance prior to playing concert.

Staff Writer Teri vanHorn reports:

Hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean and U2 frontman Bono will perform their single "New Day" on Sept. 8 at a concert in New York to benefit the Wyclef Jean Foundation.

Funk legend George Clinton and members of Jean's Refugee Camp also will perform at the event, dubbed the Wyclef Jean Foundation's Caribbean Soiree.

The concert, which will be held at the Copacabana, also will serve as the worldwide premiere party for "New Day" and its accompanying video, according to Casey Gallagher, an assistant to Wyclef Jean Foundation Executive Director Chantal Prud'homme.

For those unable to attend, the benefit concert will be featured live on Wyclef Jean's official website (www.wyclef.com).

The day before the benefit, Wyclef Jean and Bono are scheduled to tape a "VH1 Storytellers" segment, which will be dubbed "Wyclef and Friends." Additionally, just prior to the Soiree on Sept. 8, the duo will perform "New Day" at the United Nations.

Proceeds from the single, which hits stores Sept. 14, will benefit Kosovo relief efforts as well as the Wyclef Jean Foundation — a nonprofit organization that provides musical therapy, instruments and lessons to underprivileged children worldwide.

"[Bono is] one of the gods, man. ... It was incredible," Wyclef Jean said about their song while backstage at Woodstock '99 in July. "We wrote it together. It's like hip-hop meets U2 in one world, and you all are going to love it."

"New Day" also is the official song for the NetAid benefit concerts, which will feature Bono and Wyclef Jean, David Bowie, Pete Townshend, Jimmy Page, George Michael, Counting Crows, Jewel, Bush, Celine Dion and the Eurythmics. The concerts will take place simultaneously at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., Wembley Stadium in London and the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

Proceeds from the concerts mainly will benefit refugees in Africa and Kosovo, but organizers said the primary goal of NetAid is not to raise money, but to raise awareness of global poverty.

The Wyclef Jean Foundation previously has held charity events with its "Carnival" concerts in Miami and in Haiti. Last year, proceeds went to VH1's Save the Music program and to several Haitian orphanages that received musical instruments through the Foundation Artistes Creation, a Haitian relief agency.

Tickets for the Caribbean Soiree are $1,000 and are tax deductible. (Staff Writer Brian Hiatt contributed to this report.)

Copyright © 1999 SonicNet, Inc. All rights reserved.

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This page contains a single entry by Jonathan published on September 1, 1999 6:20 AM.

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