Click here to watch the telethon if using the WSLS 10 mobile app.
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Celebrities including singer Billy Ray Cyrus and "America's Got Talent" winner Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. will gather for a TV fundraiser to benefit flood recovery efforts in West Virginia, where at least 23 people died.
Murphy publicist Burke Allen says in a news release the two-hour "Rebuild West Virginia" telethon will be held Friday night. It will originate from the studios of Bluefield station WVVA-TV and be shown online and on statewide television.
Allen says other celebrities signed up include actor Kevin Sizemore, author Homer Hickam and former NBA player Bimbo Coles and ex-baseball player John Kruk.
Murphy, a Logan native, and others also will perform at a free concert Sunday night in Charleston. He's donating profits next month from his new song "Come Home To West Virginia" to flood relief efforts.
This story will be updated to include the livestream of tonight's event.
Rebuild West Virginia telethon viewers will be encouraged to make donations directly to flood relief efforts at www.rebuildwestvirginia.com; by texting the word "WVFLOODS" to 90999 to make a $10.00 donation; or by calling (877) 273-0511 to assist with the effort.
A partial and growing list of celebrities from movies, television, sports and entertainment who are appearing on the Rebuild West Virginia telethon either live or via recorded message include:
- Telethon co-host Billy Ray Cyrus, country superstar who spent many years leading the "house band" at Huntington's Ragtime Lounge. Cyrus currently stars in the new CMT series "Still The King."
- Telethon co-host and Princeton WV native Kevin Sizemore (Fear The Walking Dead: Flight 462, NCIS, Resurrection, Under The Dome, Rizzoli & Isles)
- Actress and Charleston native Jennifer Garner (13 Going on 30, Daredevil, Pearl Harbor, Catch Me If You Can, Draft Day, Dallas Buyers Club)
- Leonard Coleman and Blunt, the former lead singers of legendary groups the Temptations, Platters, and Drifters
- Landau Eugene Murphy Jr., whose new song "Come Home To West Virginia" has been in the Top 10 on the iTunes Jazz music chart this week
- Country superstar Brad Paisley, who spent Thursday touring the state and meeting with residents affected by the flooding
- Beckley WV resident Cody Wickline from Season Eight of "The Voice" who has spent several days in the past week as a flood relief volunteer
- Mike Estes, formerly of Lynyrd Skynyrd and now leader of Southern rock supergroup Skinny Molly
- "Rocket Boys" New York Times #1 best-selling author and Coalwood WV native Homer Hickam
- Kenova WV native and contemporary Christian artist Michael W. Smith
- Princeton WV resident Dreama "Mrs. Gilligan" Denver, wife of late Gilligan's Island star Bob Denver
- Legendary "Hollywood Squares" host Peter Marshall, who grew up in Wheeling and Huntington
- Charleston WV band The Carpenter Ants, led by West Virginia Music Hall of Fame director Michael Lipton
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member and Slab Fork WV native Bill Withers (Lean On Me, Lovely Day, Use Me, Just The Two Of Us)
- Actor Chad Lindberg (The Fast and the Furious, October Sky)
- Lewisburg WV resident and former NBA great Bimbo Coles
- Major league baseball sensation, ESPN personality and Charleston WV native John Kruk
- John Fogerty pianist/solo artist Bob Malone, who has composed an original song for flood relief called "The River Gives"
- Charleston WV native and character actor Bobby Ray Shafer (The Office)
- David DeLuise (The Wizards of Waverly Place)
- Jazz vocalist and actress Renee Olstead (Still Standing, The Secret Life of the American Teenager)
- Mountain Stage national radio host Larry Groce
- Actress Markie Post (Night Court, The Fall Guy)
- Actress and Wheeling WV native Joyce DeWitt (Janet from "Three's Company")