NEW YORK (Reuters) — Television singing talent show "American Idol" proved its clout as a U.S. cultural phenomenon on Wednesday by raising more than $30 million for young people in Africa and the United States.

A two-hour show filled with inspirational songs, movie, television and music stars and stories of poverty from Africa and the United States rounded off the two-night special.

"People say you can’t be the generation that ends brutal, stupid poverty, but we can and we will," Bono, U2’s lead singer and leading spokesman for the ONE Campaign to Make Poverty History, said in a prerecorded segment.

"I have been in front of 70,000 people here in L.A. and its a pretty amazing feeling. I can’t think of any feeling better except perhaps the feeling that you can save somebody’s life and there is not one person watching this program tonight who cannot save a life," he said.

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The leading rock and pop bands in Britain account for nearly £3bn of the country’s wealth, it has been revealed.

In a list of the richest people in the UK to be published this weekend, the Rolling Stones account for more than £570m, with U2 not far behind, collectively valued at £487m.

The four band members, Bono, Adam Clayton, Dave Evans (the Edge) and Larry Mullen, split all their earnings evenly with their manager, Paul McGuinness.

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LOS ANGELES, April 24 (Reuters) – Irish rock star and anti-poverty campaigner Bono is taking part in this week’s "American Idol" charity fund-raiser, organizers said on Tuesday.

The U2 lead singer will appear in a prerecorded segment on Wednesday night urging viewers of the show to call in donations to charities that work with young people in Africa and the United States.

Bono spent last weekend with the remaining six "Idol" contestants, who will perform "American Prayer" — the song he wrote some years ago with Dave Stewart about the AIDS emergency in Africa — during Wednesday’s two-hour special "Idol Gives Back."

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – U2 guitarist the Edge has paid almost $15 million for a 120-acre property in the upscale beach resort of Malibu, the Los Angeles Times said on Sunday.

The Irish rocker’s new acquisition — based in a canyon rather than on prime oceanfront — boasts a cottage and a creek, the paper added. The Edge, whose real name is Dave Evans, already has homes in Ireland and France.

He helped organize an auction of music memorabilia in New York on Saturday to raise money to buy instruments for musicians who lost their livelihoods after Hurricane Katrina.

U2’s The Edge has sold his favourite guitar at a charity auction for New Orleans musicians devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

The Gibson Les Paul had been used on every U2 tour since 1985, and was purchased for $240,000 by an anonymous buyer. A pair of Bono’s sunglasses fetched $20,000 during the auction which took place at New York’s Hard Rock Café.

Other U2 memorabilia that went under the hammer included Bono’s autographed Falcon Gretsch guitar, which reached $180,000, Adam Clayton’s Fender Jazz Bass ($22,000) and a tom drum belonging to Larry Mullen ($19,000).

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U2 stars BONO and THE EDGE are reportedly in negotiations to pen the score for a new Broadway SPIDER-MAN musical. Tony-Award winning Lion King director Julie Taymor is the brains behind the ambitious production, according to BroadwayWorld. com. Tentative rehearsals for the show are to being in July (07), according to reports. The cast will include actors filling the roles of Spider-Man Peter Parker, Mary Jane, spider-woman Arachne, villain The Green Goblin and Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson.

-ContactMusic