People in the News

A 24-hour music marathon spanning seven continents Saturday reached the Western Hemisphere with rappers, rockers and country stars taking the stage at Live Earth concerts to fight climate change.

The New York show, which is actually in Giants Stadium in New Jersey, opened with the artist Kenna asking the crowd of 52,000: “You guys realize we’re a part of history now?”

There were other shows in London, Sydney, Tokyo, Kyoto, Shanghai, Hamburg, Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro — and a performance by a five-piece band of scientists beamed from a research station in Antarctica .

Live Earth venues featured aboriginal elders, virtual-reality performers, a holographic Al Gore and more than 100 of the biggest names in music — including Madonna, the Police and Kanye West — who sought to raise awareness about climate change. The concerts are backed by Gore, whose campaign to force global warming onto the international political stage inspired the event.

Victor Willis, the original policeman in the disco band The Village People, is planning his first performance in about 25 years after completing a drug treatment program earlier this year, his publicist said Saturday in New York City. Willis, 55, will appear at the House of Blues in Las Vegas on Aug. 31.