People: Charity begins with TV homes
Everyone from Billy Crystal to Brad Pitt was on hand for this year’s “Idol Gives Back.”
The annual “American Idol” charity event, taped Sunday night at Los Angeles’ Kodak Theatre, airs Wednesday night on Fox.
Last year it raised $76 million in viewer pledges to help underprivileged children.
“Tonight isn’t just about raising money,” said Pitt, whose campaign to help New Orleans recover from Hurricane Katrina, Make It Right, is among this year’s beneficiaries.
“Sometimes, to help people, we’ve got to travel outside of our comfort zone to really understand another situation.”
The star-studded gala kicked off with “Idol” finalists performing Rihanna‘s “Don’t Stop the Music,” while performers from “So You Think You Can Dance” twirled in the background.
Guest performers included Snoop Dogg, John Legend, Miley Cyrus, Annie Lennox, Mariah Carey, Carrie Underwood, Fergie, Heart, Gloria Estefan and Sheila E.
Celebrities including David and Victoria Beckham, Kiefer Sutherland, Ellen DeGeneres, Jim Carrey and Whoopi Goldberg appeared in pre-taped segments encouraging donations.
Telling it like it is
Speaking of New Orleans, native son Aaron Neville is finally coming home – almost.
The R&B singer, who moved to Tennessee after Hurricane Katrina hit, is buying a home near Covington, La., across Lake Pontchartrain about 40 miles from New Orleans.
He says the city itself holds too many memories of his life with his wife, Joel, who died of lung cancer last year, and the place he found is on higher ground.
Says Neville: “I don’t want to run every time a hurricane comes.”
With this bling …
It doesn’t quite rise to the level of Beyonce and Jay Z’s weekend nuptials, but Remy Ma plans to marry fellow rapper Papoose at New York’s Rikers Island jail while she awaits sentencing for shooting a friend she suspected of stealing $3,000.
Only two guests will be permitted, and the couple can’t wear rings with protruding gems.
Who let the Snoop in?
Britain’s Border Agency is appealing a court decision to allow Snoop Dogg into the country.
The rapper was barred from Britain after he was arrested for violent disorder at London’s Heathrow Airport in 2006 but won an appeal.
A rather gray aria
The late Luciano Pavarotti, in severe pain months before his cancer diagnosis, lip-synched his final performance during the opening ceremony of the 2006 Turin Olympics, according to his conductor.
“The orchestra pretended to play for the public there, I pretended to conduct and Luciano pretended to sing,” Leone Magiera writes in his new book, “Pavarotti Visto Da Vicino” (“Pavarotti Seen From Close Up”).
The tenor’s manager says the decision to lip synch was made because of the bitter cold.
The birthday bunch
Comedian Shecky Greene is 82. Singer Peggy Lennon is 67. Singer-actor John Schneider is 48. Singer Julian Lennon is 45. Rapper Biz Markie is 44. Actress Robin Wright Penn is 42. Actress Patricia Arquette is 40. Actor Taran Noah Smith (“Home Improvement”) is 24.