.

Rihanna Donates $1.75 Million to Barbados Hospital

Funds given in memory of singer's late grandmother

Rihanna performs on the live finale of 'The Voice' on December 18th, 2012 in Los Angeles, California.
Trae Patton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank
December 23, 2012 5:33 PM ET

Rihanna has donated $1.75 million dollars to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Bridgetown, Babados, USA Today reports. The funds, donated in the memory of Rihanna's late grandmother Clara "Dolly" Braithwaite through Rihanna's Clara Lionel Foundation, were used to purchase equipment for the hospital's radiotherapy department. 

The singer visited the hospital with her mother, Monica Fenty, and grandfather, Lionel Brathwaite, for a ceremony on Saturday. The department will be renamed the Clara Braithwaite Centre for Oncology and Nuclear Medicine, after Rihanna's grandmother, who died of cancer last June. 

Rihanna's Hit Parade

Rihanna said that the donation was her way of giving back to the country of her birth. "I believe that this will have a huge impact on the people of Barbados," she said. "This was all done in an effort to save lives or at least extend it and I thank you all for being a part of it."


To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

prev
Music Main Next

blog comments powered by Disqus
Daily Newsletter

Get the latest RS news in your inbox.

Sign up to receive the Rolling Stone newsletter and special offers from RS and its
marketing partners.

X

We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners. For more information please read our Privacy Policy.

Song Stories

“Time to Pretend”

MGMT | 2008

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”

More Song Stories entries »