Britney Pledges Money

ByABC News
September 20, 2001, 1:43 PM

September 19 -- Britney Spears joins the growing list of entertainers who are pledging money to relief efforts. The pop singer plans to give $1 from each ticket sold for her upcoming fall tour to the children of the firefighters and police officers killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, she announced Tuesday.The 19-year-old pop star also said she will sell merchandise and auction some front-row seats to raise money for the victims' children. She hopes to raise $2 million. She begins her tour Oct. 26 in Miami. One thing Spears is not doing for relief efforts at least not yet is participating in Michael Jackson's song "What More Can I Give." Yesterday, a spokeswoman for Spears and her boyfriend, 'N Snyc's Justin Timberlake, told The Associated Press that the duo were not involved with the tribute song, as had previously been announced

All-Star Update of "We Are Family"Meanwhile, Jackson's song isn't the only all-star benefit sing-a-long being planned. Producer Nile Rodgers is gathering his own stable of singers and sports stars for an updated version of the 1979 Sister Sledge hit, "We Are Family."

Among those lending their pipes for the cause are singers Sheryl Crow, Steven Tyler, Vanessa L. Williams, Roberta Flack, Cyndi Lauper, Montel Williams, Seal, Monica, Busta Rhymes, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Mos Def, Mick Jones, Charlotte Church, Pras (of The Fugees), Joan Osborne, and Eartha Kitt; groups Run-D.M.C. and Sugar Ray; actors Susan Lucci, Kevin Bacon, Macaulay Culkin, and Taye Diggs; tennis aces Andre Agassi and John McEnroe; comedian Joan Rivers; the N.Y. Knicks; and members of the NYPD and the Fire Dept, according to the New York Daily News and the New York Post.

"This is about people from all walks of American culture coming together," says Rodgers.

The gathering will be documented by VH1. Artist Francesco Clemente will draw all the participants, while Patrick Demarchelier will photograph them, according to the Post's Page Six.