One World: Together at Home: Rolling Stones, Taylor Swift, Lizzo and Lady Gaga unite

Lady Gaga opened her own One World: Together At Home musical event in spectacular style on Saturday night.

The event, meant to raise awareness of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe, will see performances and appearances from stars including Elton John, Jennifer Lopez, David and Victoria Beckham, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Alicia Keys.

Gaga, 34, who curated the event, kicked things off with a stirring rendition of the Nat King Cole classic Smile. 

NBC, ABC and CBS teamed up to broadcast the historic event with late night talk show hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert coming together to host the show. 

During their opening monologue, the trio told viewers to ‘put your wallets away’ as the evening was not about fundraising. 

Even before going to air, the Global Citizen event had already raised more than $50million. 

Co-host Jimmy Fallon joked that most of that money was raised by ‘holding [Amazon founder] Jeff Bezos upside down and shaking him for loose change’. 

Following Gaga was musical legend Stevie Wonder, who performed Lean On Me and Love’s In Need of Love Today.

Wonder dedicated Lean On Me to that song’s writer, the recently deceased Bill Withers. 

Following him was The Beatles star Paul McCartney, who tipped his hat to medical workers fighting tirelessly during the pandemic. 

One of the final acts was Taylor Swift, who performed an acoustic version of her son Soon You’ll Get Better. 

The TV special will celebrate community health care workers and support the WHO’s global fight to end COVID-19.

The broadcast special will also include local and regional charities that provide food, shelter, and healthcare to those that need help most during this time. 

There will be educational portions to inspire people around the world to take meaningful actions that increase support for the global COVID-19 response as well as cameos from the worlds of music and arts, sports and comedic sketches.

‘Interviews with experts from the WHO as well as stories from healthcare workers on the front lines of the global pandemic will also be featured.’ 

There will be performances from some of the biggest names in music and multi-million dollar pledges to the WHO’s Solidarity Response Fund.

‘We want to highlight the gravity of this historical, unprecedented cultural movement… and we want to celebrate and encourage the power of the human spirit,’ Gaga said during a news conference last Monday.

The multi-hour TV special will also stream live on YouTube, Apple, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and more platforms.

An edited version of the event will be broadcast on BBC One for UK audiences on Sunday 19 April.

The BBC One programme will feature highlights from the live event, as well as exclusive performances from UK artists and interviews with frontline workers. 

Gaga said she plans to raise more money and explained that the TV special is not a fundraiser: ‘Put your wallets away … and sit back and enjoy the show you all deserve.’

Others taking part in the TV special include Idris and Sabrina Elba, J Balvin, John Legend, Kacey Musgraves, Keith Urban, Kerry Washington, Lang Lang, Lizzo, Maluma, Paul McCartney, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Shah Rukh Khan and Stevie Wonder.

The U.S. death toll from the novel coronavirus topped 38,000 on Saturday.

White House medical experts have forecast that between 100,000 to 240,000 Americans could be killed in the pandemic, even if sweeping orders to stay home are followed.