Billie Eilish and Green Day kicked off the FireAid benefit concert in Los Angeles on Thursday night – a two-venue, five-hour extravaganza raising money for wildfire relief efforts.

Actor Billy Crystal welcomed the crowd at the Kia Forum, wearing the clothes he had on when he escaped the Pacific Palisades fire earlier this month. He had lived in the area for 46 years and spoke poignantly about losing his home.

Joni Mitchell, Pink, Rod Stewart have all performed so far, with the concert set to end after 8am UK time.

Dr Dre made a surprise appearance alongside Anderson Paak and Sheila E, and covered Still DRE and the classic California Love.

Other big names set to hit the stage include Stevie Wonder, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Olivia Rodrigo.

Behind the performers, images of firefighters and the devastation wrought by the fires appeared on screen. Survivors also spoke about losing their homes and escaping the fires in between sets.

Audiences at home can donate online. Early in the concert, Crystal revealed that the band U2 contributed $1m (£804,829).

The owner of the basketball team the Los Angeles Clippers, Steve Ballmer and his wife Connie, will match all donations made during the concert.

All proceeds will go to those affected by the devastating Los Angeles wildfires earlier in the month.

Some 29 people died in the fires, with thousands more homes and businesses destroyed.

The Traitors finalist Alexander Dragonetti has inspired people to donate more than £70,000 to a charity after he spoke about his brother’s story on the show.

In an interview on The UK Tonight With Sarah-Jane Mee, Mr Dragonetti said more than £70,000 had been raised for Mencap, an organisation supporting people with learning disabilities.

“The response has been fantastic. Anybody who supports or raises awareness on what to me is an incredibly important topic, I’m so incredibly grateful. The response has been fantastic.”

The former British diplomat opened up about how his late brother, who had Global Developmental Delay and autism, saying for a week a year his brother would go to a summer camp where he also volunteered to help other children.

The 38-year-old described how his brother would be “the centre of attention”, adding: “Everyone would flock around and he had this energy where he just drew people to him. And he was also slightly cooler than I was. I just stood there and waved, bathed in his reflected glory. It was such fun for him.”

Mr Dragonetti said his brother, who died aged 17, would have been really excited to see him appear on TV as part of the BBC show.

He said while it is “fantastic having special needs children” it can also be “really challenging”, adding: “Often parents don’t have much of a voice. And if I can create or help to create that voice for parents to help get them the support they need, that would be probably my most proud outcome from the show.”

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‘I was actually texting Leanne during the final episode’

Mr Dragonetti did not win the latest series of The Traitors. He lost to project manager Jake Brown and former soldier Leanne Quigley, who won the £94,600 prize pot.

But after a tense finale, is he still friends with his fellow contestants?

“We actually are all friends now,” he revealed. “I was actually texting Leanne during the final episode, saying ‘I’m so sorry to have accused you,’ and she was texting me saying, ‘Oh my God, I got it so wrong.’

“So we’ve actually become really close since the end of that. And it’s been really nice to get to know each other in a slightly less pressurised way.”

Told he had “become the nation’s sweetheart” and asked if he was still single, Mr Dragonetti said: “I am. No further comment.”

Singer and actress Marianne Faithfull has died at the age of 78.

A spokesperson for her music promotion company Republic Media said: “It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of the singer, songwriter and actress Marianne Faithfull.

“Marianne passed away peacefully in London today, in the company of her loving family.

“She will be dearly missed.”

Faithfull was best known for her 1964 hit As Tears Go By, written by Sir Mick Jagger, with whom she had a well-publicised relationship, and fellow Rolling Stones star Keith Richards.

She also starred in films including The Girl On A Motorcycle and 2007’s Irina Palm, for which she was nominated for a European Film Award for Best Actress.

In recent years, she provided voice work for the 2021 remake of Dune and 2023’s Wild Summon.

She and Sir Mick began seeing each other in 1966 and became one of the most glamorous couples of Swinging London.

He paid tribute to his “wonderful friend and beautiful singer and a great actress”, and said he was “so saddened” by her death, as “she was so much part of my life for so long”.

Next to a picture of the pair arm in arm on Instagram, Sir Mick said Faithfull “will always be remembered”.

His Stones bandmates Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards also paid tribute, with Richards posting on Instagram that he was “so sad and will miss her.”

His post was accompanied by a picture of the pair enjoying a drink together.

Wood wrote on Jagger’s post: “Farewell dear Marianne.”

Born in 1946, Faithfull started her singing career in 1964 after being discovered by the Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham.

Her self-titled debut album was released a year later, with As Tears Go By reaching number nine on the UK singles chart.

She went on to have a string of successful singles, including Come And Stay With Me, This Little Bird, and Summer Nights, and famously dated Sir Mick from 1966 to 1970.

Faithfull was prolific throughout the 60s, releasing six albums – some only in the UK and some for the US – as well as contributing backing vocals to the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine and inspiring the Stones’ Sympathy For The Devil.

That decade also saw her star in films like 1967’s I’ll Never Forget What’s’isname – where she was one of the first people to say f*** in a mainstream studio film – 1968’s The Girl On A Motorcycle, and Tony Richardson’s 1969 adaptation of Hamlet.

Her affair with Sir Mick was notorious, with the couple being arrested in 1968 for possession of cannabis.

She was also infamously found by police wearing only a bear skin rug when they arrived for a drugs raid at Richards’ home in 1967.

After breaking up with the Stones frontman, Faithfull spent two years homeless in Soho while suffering from anorexia and heroin addiction, before she started living in a squat.

She wrote in her 1994 autobiography: “For me, being a junkie was an admirable life. It was total anonymity, something I hadn’t known since I was 17.

“As a street addict in London, I finally found it. I had no telephone, no address.”

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In 1979, following success in Ireland with the country-themed Dreamin’ My Dreams, Faithfull released the Grammy-nominated Broken English – widely considered her best album.

She later achieved critical acclaim as a jazz and blues singer with 1987’s Strange Weather and went to rehab that same decade.

Faithfull released a total of 21 solo albums throughout her career. Her most recent was the spoken word album She Walks In Beauty from 2021, which saw her work with frequent Nick Cave collaborator Warren Ellis.

She made a full recovery from breast cancer in 2006.