Sunday night at 9 p.m., a slew of musicians will perform from their homes in a nationally televised concert to raise money for charities amid the coronavirus crisis.
Mariah Carey will perform from her home studio — “with a door open so she can watch her children at the same time,” Fox News reports. “The Backstreet Boys will perform together, but from each of their own homes. Billie Eilish is singing from her family’s couch.”
The one-of-a-kind concert will also feature Elton John, who will host the evening of music. Also set to appear: Alicia Keys, country star Tim McGraw, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Ciara, Demi Lovato, Lizzo, Dave Grohl and Russell Wilson.
Ellen DeGeneres, Lady Gaga, Ken Jeong, Ryan Seacrest, Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone will also be special guests during the “Living Room Concert.”
“This is something completely different than we’ve ever tried before,” said iHeart Media president of entertainment John Sykes, who helped put together the “FOX Presents the iHeart Living Room Concert for America.”
The hour-long concert “will pay tribute to the front line health professionals, first responders and local heroes who are putting their lives in harm’s way to help their neighbors and fight the spread of the virus,” the concert’s website said. It also will encourage viewers to support two of the many charitable organizations helping victims and first responders during the pandemic: Feeding America and First Responders Children’s Foundation.”
“To extend the reach of the commercial-free special’s charitable component, FOX will offer the event across all of its linear and digital platforms,” the site said.
“When Sykes and iHeart Media chief programming officer Tom Poleman began reaching out to artists, asking them to partake in the “Living Room Concert for America,” they emailed Elton John and asked him to perform,” Fox reported.
“We were surprised to get an email back, the next day, saying, ‘Hey, how about I host?’ We would like to take credit for going to him as a host, but it was Elton’s idea,” Poleman told Fox News.
“He didn’t have his piano with him,” Sykes added. “He wanted to social distance himself from the piano delivery company, he was following protocol.”
Sykes, who co-founded MTV decades ago, and “Jingle Ball” pioneer Poleman have produced some elaborate events during their careers but the logistical issues surrounding the ‘Living Room Concert’ are unprecedented.
“It’s certainly unlike anything that we’ve ever done. Normally, when we do our shows, we have state-of-the-art equipment, spare no expense to make it look great, you have all the glam squad coming in for the artists, but in this case, all you have is your cell phone and your living room and whatever instruments were there when the quarantine started,” Poleman said.
Sykes said they wanted to help raise money for good causes, but also raise awareness for the “incredible work being done by first responders” who represent the “strength and compassion” of America.
The “FOX Presents the iHeart Living Room Concert for America,” airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET.