Phillip Phillips teamed up with the students of Staten Island’s PS22 Chorus this Thursday for a concert benefit for areas devastated by Hurricane Sandy.
The 30-minute concert, which was streamed on Stageit.com, included covers of “Wonderwall” by Oasis and “Thriller” by Michael Jackson. As a bonus, Phillips treated the students to a performance of two new songs, “Gone, Gone, Gone,” and "Man on the Moon," from his forthcoming CD, “The World from the Side of the Moon.”
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Additionally, Phillips sang an acoustic version of the Judy Garland musical theater classic, “The Trolley Song,” from the show Meet Me in St. Louis, on a dare from Z100 jock Elvis Duran, who pledged $6,000 upon the performance. Phillips obliged with an assist from the choir.
"I don't know if it's going to sound pretty... but they're going to make it sound pretty, so here we go," he laughed.
In addition, the American Idol Season 11 winner, who banterred with the kids throughout the show, autographed an acoustic guitar to be auctioned to the highest bidder.
According to chorus director Gregg Breinberg, Phillips, who saw a video of the chorus performing his hit, “Home” on YouTube, reached out to the chorus with an idea to do a concert for charity, and plans got a bit twisted when Sandy hit.
"It was originally planned as a benefit for a different charity, and they were looking at doing it at Radio City Music Hall or a bigger venue," Breinberg told the Staten Island Advance ."[After the hurricane] we were pretty devastated, so I spoke to my principal and Phillip's manager to say we really had to do something that's gonna benefit Staten Island. They were on board immediately. Turns out they were already thinking along the same lines, so it was an easy sell."
Proceeds from the show will go to the Red Cross and the Stephen Stiller Tunnel to Towers Foundation. Tallies from the Nov. 15 show have not been released yet.
