Song Unites Megastar Cast: 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 Premiere TV performance of 'Just Stand Up' on ABC, CBS and NBC simultaneous broadcast of Stand Up To Cancer nationwide fund-raising event, September 5th
NEW YORK, Aug. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- 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 nation wide 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,
http://www.standup2cancer.org, 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.
Stand Up To Cancer's leadership team includes Katie Couric; Laura Ziskin;
the Entertainment Industry Foundation, represented by Board of Directors
Chairperson Sherry Lansing (who is also Founder of the Sherry Lansing
Foundation), CEO Lisa Paulsen, and Vice President Kathleen Lobb; the Noreen
Fraser Foundation and its executives Noreen Fraser (who is also a cancer
survivor) and Woody Fraser, and Rusty Robertson and Sue Schwartz also of the
Robertson Schwartz Agency; and nonprofit executive Ellen Ziffren, whose
husband, noted L.A. attorney Ken Ziffren, played a pivotal role in bringing
together the three networks for the broadcast special.
In addition to the Island Def Jam Music Group, many leading
philanthropists, organizations and corporations support the Stand Up To Cancer
Mission, including the Sidney Kimmel Foundation as well as Major League
Baseball, Amgen, AARP, GlaxoSmithKline, Revlon, Wallis Annenberg & The
Annenberg Foundation, Alliance for Global Good, Lee Jeans, New York Giants,
Philips, Saks Fifth Avenue, Steve Tisch, Stonyfield Farm and many others. In
addition to ABC, CBS and NBC, SU2C major media partners include AOL, Conde
Nast Media Group, eBay Inc., Facebook, Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., Hearst
Corporation, Los Angeles Times, Meredith Corporation, Paypal, The New York
Times Company, Time Inc., and WebMD.
SOURCE Island Def Jam Music Group
