The Music for UNICEF Concert: A Gift of Song was a
benefit concert of
popular music held in the
United Nations General Assembly in
New York City on January 9, 1979. It was intended to raise money for
UNICEF world hunger programs and to mark the beginning of the
International Year of the Child. The concert was
videotaped and broadcast the following day on
NBC in the U.S. and around the world. The moderator was
David Frost, with
Gilda Radner and
Henry Winkler also introducing some of the performers.
Henry Fonda made a short appearance. Each performer signed a large parchment declaring support for UNICEF's goals.
The concert was the idea of impresario
Robert Stigwood, the
Bee Gees, and
David Frost, who originally conceived it as an annual event. Not all of the performances were truly live, with
ABBA lip-synching their new song "Chiquitita" and the
Bee Gees lip-synching their song
Too Much Heaven. It raised less than one million dollars at the time for UNICEF, although this figure did not include longer-term royalties from the songs and repeat performances.
Performers
The Music for UNICEF Concert featured some of the biggest names in
pop music at the time, and the performers donated their performance
royalties and those from one song each to UNICEF. (The Bee Gees' song "
Too Much Heaven", for example, had earned more than seven million dollars for UNICEF as of 2003). However, some artists released the royalties for only a limited time. Most of the songs...
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