Charities: Billy Talent, Sum 41, Deftones and others cover Lennon for Amnesty International

Several artists will be covering songs written by Beatles frontman John Lennon for an upcoming compilation to benefit Amnesty International. Rolling Stone reports that the artists will include Billy Talent, Avril Lavigne, Black Eyed Peas, Sum 41, the Deftones and Duran Duran.Ms. Lavigne is recording her cover of "Imagine" with pianist Chatal Kreviazuk and producer Butch Walker. In describing the track, she described it as "a mellow version," and is said to have stayed faithful to the original.
Meanwhile, fellow Canadians Billy Talent will be recording "Cold Turkey" with producer Bryan Adams, putting their own spin on the song.

"They asked us what song we wanted to do, and that was the first one that came to my mind," says guitarist Ian D'Sa. "It's an awesome song. But we sped it up a bit because it's kind of slow."

The compilation will be available via download from Amnesty's website, and is not the first time that Lennon's tracks have been used to benefit the organization. Three years ago, Lennon's widow Yoko Ono donated the rights to "Imagine" to have it sung by children around the world for the Amnesty Campaign of the same name.