Elton John's Coronavirus Relief Concert Raises Millions

The global coronavirus pandemic doesn’t look like it is going to end anytime soon, so everybody that can help out has been doing the best they can. One such effort, Elton John’s “Living Room Concert for America” has ended up raising millions for the fight against COVID-19.

According to Variety, the television special has raised a substantial amount of almost $8 million. Aired on Fox stations as well as iHeartMedia radio stations, the special featured performances from H.E.R., Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, and more. Ellen DeGeneres, Ryan Seacrest, and Melissa McCarthy also participated.

A lot of the performances for the special ended up being memorable as all the musicians had to perform from their homes -- whether in their living room or somewhere else in their house. Often, their performances were filmed on their mobile phones.

As reported by USA Today, John himself was the source of one memorable moment, as the house he was filming at did not have a regular piano for him to play. However, the Academy Award winner made the best of the situation and performed with a keyboard used by one of his sons.

Tim McGraw also brought a memorable performance that involved him and three of his musicians. McGraw performed while sitting on his pool’s diving board. Billie Eilish, along with her brother Finneas, performed an acoustic version of “Bad Guy” on their living room couch.

Mariah Carey sang “Always Be My Baby” and dedicated it to her two children, who she thanks for not complaining too much as they are spending their time in isolation with the Grammy Award winner.

Those who were unable to catch the special the first time it aired were also able to watch it as the iHeartRadio YouTube channel streamed the entirety of the special Wednesday night. Youtube has also made a commitment to donate to the “Living Room Concert for America” beneficiaries, Feeding America and the First Responders Children’s Foundation. COVID-19 frontliners and first responders are the people that both organizations help out.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases has only been increasing over the past few days. In the Apr. 1 situation report provided by the World Health Organization, there have been 72,736 new COVID-19 infections around the world and 4,193 new deaths. In total, there have been 823,626 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 40,598 deaths.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 186,101 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States, with 3,603 deaths.