Keys Eyes $1 Million for AIDS

Alicia Keys is introducing a new $1 million initiative, "Buy Life," for her AIDS charity, Keep a Child Alive. The singer will announce the effort at the group's Black Ball fund-raiser tonight in New York City. Print, transit, and Internet ads will feature celebrities wearing T-shirts emblazoned with "Buy Life" and a bar code. Smart-phone users will be able to scan the code and automatically donate to the charity.

"The whole idea is that if you're spending $100 on a pair of shoes or everything else we spend money on that we don't really need, why not use the money to save a life instead?" the Brooklyn, N.Y., native says. Since its launch seven years ago by Keys and agent/activist Leigh Blake, Keep a Child Alive has raised $20 million to purchase AIDS drugs, support clinics, and care for orphans in South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and India.