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Destiny's Child, Joey McIntyre Talk AIDS Awareness; Monica On Being An "Angel"

'NSYNC, Joey McIntyre, Monica, Destiny's Child, and Wyclef Jean all performed Wednesday night at a benefit concert at New York City's Beacon Theater to mark World AIDS Day.

The event, dubbed "Music With A Message: World AIDS Day 1999," was organized by LIFEbeat and Levi's and raised over $450,000 for HIV and AIDS education (see [article id="1428050"]"'NSYNC, Destiny's Child, Monica, Wyclef, McIntyre Go Online For World AIDS Day Benefit"[/article]).

The concert was co-hosted by Joey McIntyre, who performed two songs, including his next single, "I Cried." He talked to MTV News about how young people should not lose sight of the epidemic or the steps that can be taken to eliminate it.

[article id="1442740"] "I think that's just how we are as people,"[/article] McIntyre said. [article id="1442740"] "When things are going good and we're happy, you don't think about the problems. But this is a problem that hasn't gone away."[/article]

[article id="1442740"] "The awareness, of course, has gotten better,"[/article] the singer continued, [article id="1442740"] "but that's because people like Levi's and LIFEbeat are keeping it that way, and it's important that we keep it going." [RealVideo][/article]

Also in attendance were Destiny's Child, who just completed a slew of supporting dates with TLC last week. The group performed a handful of songs, including their current "TRL" hit "Bug A Boo," and the ladies took some time out to chat with MTV News about why they decided to get involved.

[article id="1442742"] "Anything that we can do to help or to make somebody smile, we're happy to do it,"[/article] said the group's La Tavia.

[article id="1442742"] "And we also learn a lot from it too,"[/article] Le Toya added. [article id="1442742"] "'Cause there's a whole lot of things that people just don't know about. When... we go to these

[charity] organizations, we're sitting there like, 'For real? That really happens?'" [RealVideo][/article]

R&B songstress Monica opened up the evening with a three-song set that included her hit "Angel Of Mine." She brought out special guests 112 for her cover of Richard Marx' "Right Here Waiting," which she plans to release early in the new year as her next single.

Monica's World AIDS Day performance came just days before she makes another charity appearance as a holiday storyteller for the Make-A-Wish Foundation's annual party in Atlanta on December 3 (see [article id="1428050"]"Monica To Read Christmas Story For Make-A-Wish Foundation"[/article]).

If all these good works make Monica seem like an angel, it's appropriate; she's working on the TV-movie "Angel," which is being produced by Whitney Houston for "The Wonderful World Of Disney" series (see [article id="1430169"]"Monica Gets Divine Intervention For TV Project"[/article]).

During rehearsals for the Beacon Theater show, Monica took time out to chat briefly with MTV News' John Norris about the (apparently top-secret) TV-movie.

"I'm doing a movie called 'Angel,'" Monica began, "and they don't like me to talk about it, but that's what we're going to be working on early in the year.... I can say that [my character] passed [away]. She lived a very tragic life, but what she has opted to do is guide this young female, to steer her in the right direction so she does not do the same things she did."

Monica (who also told Norris that she also has a small role in the upcoming romantic comedy "Boys And Girls," which stars Freddie Prinze Jr.) plans to take a much-needed vacation before she heads back to the studio to start recording her third album.

-- Raquel Cepedaand Tina Johnson

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