An impromptu supergroup featuring rapper Jay-Z, U2’s Bono and the Edge, and Rihanna will take the stage at the MTV-produced Hope for Haiti benefit telethon, which airs Friday, Jan. 22, at 8 P.M. on all the major TV networks.
Jay-Z and the two U2 members have also recorded a song with producer Swizz Beatz that will be sold via iTunes, with proceeds going towards relief efforts surrounding Haiti’s recent earthquake.
“Bono came up with the phrase on the phone, and last night we were here, we wrote a song — finished, recorded, and sent it back to [Swizz Beatz],” the Edge said on Irish radio (via MTV. “So that might be the next thing you hear from us.”
Wyclef Jean, George Clooney, and Anderson Cooper are set to host the Hope for Haiti broadcast. Justin Timberlake, Coldplay, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Alicia Keys, and Taylor Swift are just a few of more than 100 celebrities scheduled to appear.
All musical performances from the telethon will be available starting Saturday on iTunes for 99 cents each, with proceeds also going to the event’s partner relief charities: Oxfam America, Partners in Health, the Red Cross, UNICEF, Wyclef’s Yele Haiti Foundation, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, and United Nations World Food Programme.
