Under the banner, "We Can Be Heroes," the magazine from the quentisential music charts company, Billboard, highlights musicians and industry executives who give back to their fans and communities. Lady Gaga and Sir Elton John were chosen for the cover of
Billboard magazine's
first ever philanthropy issue, which features the international work of the
Elton John AIDS Foundation. One of the world’s largest HIV grant-makers, the foundation raises money to support "evidence-based" programs and policies, among other things. Since it was founded in 1992, EJAF has raised more than $349 million for the treatment and prevention of HIV and that success was the primary reason John was knighted by the Queen in 1998.
In an opinion piece exclusive to Billboard, John talks about how far we’ve come in the fight against HIV and why we still have work to do to overcome challenges and creating an AIDS-free world in our lifetime. Read Elton's op-ed here.
Gaga, who was recently revealed to be Billboard's 2015 Woman of the Year, founded the Born This Way Foundation to show disenfranchised teens they weren’t alone. Born This Way first sponsored the Born Brave Bus Tour, a pop-up resource center that drew 150,000 visitors in two years. But more recently, the foundation has shifted focus to peer support and preventive initiatives, including research on youth and mental health in a partnership with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, and in a forthcoming collaboration with the Elton John AIDS Foundation, which will be announced soon.
In this interview with Billboard, Gaga shares about her own experiences struggling with depression.