Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- With an appearance by Bono and a concert featuring Gwen Stefani and Alicia Keys, organizers of a Manhattan fundraiser tonight to raise $1.5 million for AIDS promise it won't be standard benefit fare.
At most galas, ``you get your charity chicken, the entertainment goes on too long and the music is awful,'' said Leigh Blake, executive director of Keep a Child Alive, a nonprofit that provides medicine for AIDS-infected adults and children in Africa and India. ``Our event is not stodgy.''
Bono, the 47-year-old activist and lead singer of the Irish band U2, who was born Paul David Hewson, is being honored and isn't scheduled to perform at Hammerstein Ballroom. Keys, the 26- year-old R&B singer, will take the stage before 1,200 guests, along with Sheryl Crow and Stefani. Iman, the former model who was born in Somalia, is also set to appear.
Tickets for dinner and the show, which benefits the Brooklyn-based group, range from $100,000 for a table for 10 to $5,000 for individuals. Seats in the balcony upstairs in the hall for a pre-concert cocktail party and the show are $1,000.
The event is backed by media personalities and recording industry executives. Padma Lakshmi, host of ``Top Chef'' on the Bravo network, oversees the dinner menu. Co-chairmen of the event include Richard Beckman, president of Conde Nast Media Group, Theodore J. Forstmann, chief executive of talent agency IMG, and Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Universal Music Group's Interscope Geffen A&M Records.
Lobbying Efforts
The fourth annual ``Black Ball'' is honoring Bono for his support of AIDS awareness and treatment. In 2002, he co-founded DATA -- Debt AIDS Trade Africa -- which lobbies wealthy nations to adopt new trade and aid policies with Africa. In 2006, Bono helped start ``Product (Red)'' to raise money to buy AIDS drugs for Africans.
Blake, a native of London who now lives in Brooklyn, was an associate producer of the 1995 film ``Kids'' and co-produced ``Red Hot & Blue,'' a 1990 Cole Porter tribute album that raised money for AIDS research and education. She became more involved with HIV issues in Africa after marrying Earle Sebastian, a director of videos and commercials and a South African native. She started Keep a Child Alive in 2003.
Working with established groups, Blake said the organization provides medicine for 20,000 people in Africa.
She visits Africa four times a year. If it weren't for family obligations, she said she'd be tempted to move to Uganda or South Africa because of her affection for the people.
``They don't have anything,'' she said. ``They just give love and receive love. Here it's all about us and about what we need. None of that means anything.''
