Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is about to get another boost from a group of his celebrity supporters. Four-time Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Dave Stewart on Monday shared a preview with the Sun-Times of a music video he is creating ”that should be out on the Internet in about 10 days.” (article was posted on July 23rd).

The video is built around American Prayer a song Stewart co-wrote with fellow music superstar Bono on ”a whirlwind trip,” penned in such diverse locales as Dublin, Los Angeles, Miami, London, New York and Cape Town.

Stewart also credits ”creative input” on the video and song from Timbaland, Dr. Dre, the Neptunes, Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez.

The black-and-white video includes a wide range of people singing the song — both celebrities and regular Obama supporters. It’s an inspirational kind of musical expression that conveys an upbeat, positive tone reminiscent of earlier projects like the 1985 ”We Are the World” music video, which raised funds for famine relief in Africa. The Obama video showcases a number of singers framed inside a series of television sets, from the 1950s to more contemporary models. Among the well-known Obama backers seen singing in the video are Oprah Winfrey (with her arm around a pensive-looking Beyonce), Cyndi Lauper, Macy Gray, Margaret Cho and Whoopi Goldberg as well as Stewart.

In addition, ”we asked permission from Dr. Martin Luther King’s family to use film of Dr. King making his final speech the night before he was assassinated,” Stewart said. The featured clip is the famous line King spoke about perhaps not making it to the promised land.
Stewart said the ”tone of the video and the song is very important. . . . This is not just some happy, pop tune; but we aimed to make it an anthem that will inspire people and lift them up, much as Obama’s campaign is doing.”
Stewart, who co-founded the Eurythmics with Annie Lennox, next appears in the Chicago area Aug. 29 at Ravinia

Source: suntimes.com