Elton John to guest-edit The Independent

Elton John is to guest-edit a special edition of The Independent for World AIDS Day.

The gay singer, who set up an HIV/AIDS charity in 1992, said he was looking forward to the chance of raising awareness of the issue.

All circulation revenues from the one-off editions on December 1st will go to the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

According to The Independent, the star is already planning the issue and intends to commission news, features and comment about World AIDS Day.

Sir Elton said: “I was thrilled to be invited to guest edit The Independent. I’m really looking forward to spending a day in the editor’s chair, and I’m pleased to get the chance to put the subject of AIDS at the top of the editorial agenda.”

Evgeny Lebedev, chairman of The Independent, said: “We are proud to have Elton editing the paper for a day. His AIDS foundation has done a lot of important work around the world which I have witnessed first-hand, and we are pleased to be able to help the cause.”

In 2006, the paper invited Bono to guest-edit. Proceeds from the edition were given to initiatives fighting AIDS in Africa.