Chris Tomlin, David Crowder*Band and others donate to Japan charity auction

Artists and songwriters including The Beatles, David Bowie, as well as EMI CMG label group's own Chris Tomlin, David Crowder*Band, Audrey Assad and Josh Wilson have donated exclusive personal items and memorabilia to the EMI family’s charity auction to raise funds to help the Red Cross support people affected by last month’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The first phase of the charity auction is in progress and ends on April 15, with the second phase ending on April 21st.

The latest round of the charity auction, which is one of the biggest in eBay’s history, includes sixstepsrecords' artists Chris Tomlin, who has donated handwritten and autographed lyrics, as well as the David Crowder * Band autographing a Keytar. There are still four days to go until the end of the first phase of the auction, which features a personalised video of Josh Wilson performing one of his songs, and handwritten lyrics on doilies from Audrey Assad. Fellow artists in the first phase and writers include Coldplay, Beastie Boys, Jane Birkin, Depeche Mode, 30 Seconds To Mars, Simple Minds, Alice In Chains, and The Chemical Brothers.

Other items added to the auction today include access to private concert rehearsal by Sting, a limited edition ‘Yellow Submarine’ bicycle issued to mark the re-release of The Beatles’ famous movie, three framed and signed prints of David Gilmour taken in Gdansk, and more than 30 albums individually signed by David Bowie.

Also included in the auction is the MacBook used by David Guetta to create the demos for his hit album ‘One Love’, the hand written lyrics to ‘God Only Knows’ from the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, and one of the four original handmade "Zero" shirts worn by the Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan for the release and tour of ‘Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness’.

All funds raised from the charity auction will be used towards the Japanese Red Cross disaster relief efforts to help those affected by the earthquake and tsunami. Funds will be used for the on-going provision of immediate relief to support the affected population during their recovery. EMI Group has committed to match all funds raised from the auction up to a maximum of one million euros.

All the items can be viewed at members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=emifamily4japan   Christian Today