The Nelson Mandela 90th Birthday Tribute was held in

Hyde Park, London Hyde Park is a Grade I-listed major park in Westminster, Greater London, the largest of the four Royal Parks that form a chain from the entrance to Kensington Palace through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, via Hyde Park Corner and Gre ...

on 27 June 2008 to commemorate

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

's ninetieth birthday (18 July). The concert formed part of the

46664 46664 was a series of AIDS benefit concerts played in honour of Nelson Mandela by South African and foreign musicians between 2003 and 2008. Origin The second time that Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island was in 1964, and he was the 466th pr ...

concert series to promote awareness of the

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

pandemic, and came twenty years after the 1988 Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute Concert at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, held while Mandela was still in prison. The three-and-a-half-hour concert was attended by 46,664 people. General admission tickets were available for £65. It was broadcast on the internet and

Virgin Radio Virgin Radio launched in the United Kingdom in 1993. In 2008, Virgin Radio UK was sold to TIML, a subsidiary of The Times of India group, and the name was changed to Absolute Radio; the Virgin Radio name was not included in the sale. In 2001, ...

with highlights on

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...

. The hosts were

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his acting career starring as a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom '' The Fresh ...

and his wife Jada, and

June Sarpong June Konadu Sarpong (born 31 May 1977) is a British television presenter and executive. She was a panellist on ITV's ''Loose Women'' and is currently a panellist on the Sky News programme '' The Pledge''. In November 2019, Sarpong was appointed ...

, with other celebrities including

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz. A membe ...

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...

Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mic ...

and

Geri Halliwell Geraldine Estelle Horner (née Halliwell; born 6 August 1972) is an English singer, songwriter, author, and actress. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of the girl group the Spice Girls. With over 100 million records ...

introducing artists. Mandela came onstage himself during the concert, where he made a short speech – to great applause.

Performers (in order of appearance)

Jivan Gasparyan Djivan Gasparyan (var. Jivan Gasparyan; hy, Ջիվան Գասպարյան, ; October 12, 1928 – July 6, 2021) was an Armenian musician and composer. He played the duduk, a double reed woodwind instrument related to the orchestral oboe. Gaspary ...

Razorlight Razorlight are an English indie rock band, formed in 2002 in London by lead singer and guitarist Johnny Borrell. Along with Borrell, the current line-up of the band is composed of founding members Björn Ågren on guitar and bassist Carl Delemo ...

Into the Hoods ''Into the Hoods'' -- "An Urban Fairy Tale" is a hip hop/musical created by London-based hip hop dance troupe ZooNation, and conceived and directed by the choreographer Kate Prince. The basic premise of the show is a hip-hop take on the Stephen ...

Sipho Mabuse Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse (born in Johannesburg, 2 November 1951) is a South African singer. Sipho grew up in Soweto. His mother was Zulu and his father was Tswana. Sipho and his band used to be managed by Solly Nkuta, After dropping out of scho ...

Soweto Gospel Choir The Soweto Gospel Choir is a South African gospel group. History The Soweto Gospel Choir was formed in Soweto, South Africa, by David Mulovhedzi and Beverly Bryer, and producers Andrew Kay, David Vigo and Cliff Hocking in 2002. The more than 30- ...

Leona Lewis Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985) is a British singer, songwriter, actress and activist. Born and raised in the London Borough of Islington, she attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon. Lewis achieved natio ...

* Zucchero *

Susannah Owiyo ''Susannah'' is an opera in two acts by the American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the ...

and

D'Gary D'Gary (''Ernest Randrianasolo''; born 22 July 1961) is a Malagasy musician of Bara ethnicity. His primary instrument is the acoustic guitar. Musical style D'Gary's elaborate playing style is characterised by his use of alternative tunings. ...

Sugababes Sugababes are a British girl group composed of Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy. The lineup changed three times before returning to the original lineup in 2011. Formed in 1998 by All Saints manager Ron Tom, Sugababes releas ...

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician Dave Stewart w ...

*Agape choir *

Emmanuel Jal Emmanuel Jal (born Jal Jok 1 January 1980) is a South Sudanese-Canadian artist, actor, former child soldier, and political activist. His autobiography, ''War Child: A Child Soldier's Story'', was published in 2009. Childhood Jal was born to ...

* Jamelia * Loyiso * Vusi Mahlasela *

Johnny Clegg Jonathan Paul Clegg, (7 June 195316 July 2019) was a South African musician, singer-songwriter, dancer, anthropologist and anti-apartheid activist, some of whose work was in musicology focused on the music of indigenous South African people ...

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

* Eddy Grant *

Kurt Darren Kurt Johan van Heerden (born 19 February 1970), better known as Kurt Darren, is a South African singer, songwriter and television presenter, who won seven South African Music Awards (SAMA) from 2007 to 2011. He has also appeared in a number of ...

Simple Minds Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 1977. They have released a string of hit singles, becoming best known internationally for " Don't You (Forget About Me)" (1985), which topped the '' Billboard'' Hot 100 in the United ...

Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Freddie Mercury and ...

and

Andrea Corr Andrea Jane Corr MBE (born 17 May 1974) is an Irish singer, songwriter, musician and actress. Corr debuted in 1990 as the lead singer of the Celtic folk rock and pop rock group The Corrs along with her three elder siblings Caroline, Sharon ...

9ice 9ice, born Alexander Abolore Adegbola Akande (born 17 January 1980), is a Nigerian musician, songwriter and dancer. He is known for his powerful use of the Yoruba language in his music as well as his proverbial lyrics and unique style of deliv ...

Bebe Cool Bebe Cool (real name Moses Ssali; born 1 September 1977) is an African reggae and ragga musician from Uganda. He started his career around 1997 in Nairobi, Kenya, but moved back to his native country a few years later. Bebe Cool was one of the ...

Josh Groban Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. His first four solo albums have been certified multi-platinum, and he was charted in 2007 as the number-one best selling artist in the United States, wi ...

* Amaral *

Queen + Paul Rodgers Queen + Paul Rodgers (sometimes referred to as Q+PR or QPR) was a collaboration between Queen ( Brian May and Roger Taylor) and Paul Rodgers; formerly of Bad Company, Free, The Firm and The Law. Guitarist May had previously performed with ...

Jerry Dammers Jeremy David Hounsell Dammers GCOT (born 22 May 1955) is a British musician who was a founder, keyboard player and primary songwriter of the Coventry-based ska band The Specials (also known as The Special A.K.A.) and later The Spatial AKA Orche ...

The concert finished with a rendition of The Special A.K.A. song "

Free Nelson Mandela "Nelson Mandela" (known in some versions as "Free Nelson Mandela") is a song written by British musician Jerry Dammers, and performed by band The Special A.K.A. – with lead vocal by Stan Campbell – released on the single "Nelson Mandela"/" ...

" with Winehouse and Dammers joined on stage by the night's other performers.

External links

BBC News Reporter's Log of the Concert46664 campaign concert page
{{coord missing, London Music festivals in London Tribute, 90th 2008 in London 2008 in music Tribute concerts in the United Kingdom Musical tributes by person June 2008 events in the United Kingdom