Musicians rally around Hillary Clinton ahead of US election

Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and Lady Gaga have pledged their support for Hillary Clinton in the US Presidential election.

Madonna played an impassioned rendition of John Lennon's Imagine at an intimate acoustic concert in New York.

"This is a concert about unifying us, and it's about keeping America great, not making America great," she said, referring to a Donald Trump slogan.

Meanwhile, Gaga made a pledge for unity at a Clinton rally in North Carolina.

Will celebrity support help Clinton?

Speaking in Raleigh, the star called for Mrs Clinton's supporters to respect the people who voted for Republican nominee Mr Trump.

"We do not need to hate his followers," she said to a round of applause.

"If we are true, true Americans, then we must go from viewing his followers as our adversaries to viewing them as our allies."

The star, sporting the same jacket Michael Jackson wore to the White House in 1990, then duetted with Jon Bon Jovi on the song Living On A Prayer.

Dozens of musicians have come out in support of Mrs Clinton over the last few months, but Trump has struggled to win celebrity endorsements. Among those who have voiced support for his candidacy are country singer Loretta Lynn, boxer Mike Tyson and actor Jon Voight.

Others, including The Rolling Stones, Adele, Queen, REM and Elton John, have requested that the businessman and reality TV star stop using their music at his rallies.

Meanwhile a project called 30 Days, 30 Songs has seen dozens of artists release anti-Trump songs over the last month.

By contrast, Mrs Clinton has enlisted the services of Jay Z and Beyonce, who headlined a Get Out the Vote event in Cleveland last week, which also featured performances from Chance the Rapper, Big Sean, and J Cole.

Bruce Springsteen has been an outspoken critic of Donald Trump

Bruce Springsteen, meanwhile, performed a three-song set on Monday night outside Philadelphia's Independence Hall at a rally in support of Hillary Clinton.

The rock star, who has previously called Trump "a moron", took one final opportunity to knock the Republican nominee.

"This is a man whose vision is limited to little beyond himself, who has the profound lack of decency that would allow him to prioritise his own interests and ego before American democracy itself," Springsteen said.

"Somebody who would be willing to damage our long-cherished and admired system rather than look to himself for the reasons behind his own epic failure. And that's unforgivable. Tomorrow, those ideas and that campaign is going down."

'Real change'

The final day of campaigning saw the two main candidates preach divergent messages.

In Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mrs Clinton talked about bringing the country together after the election was over.

"We've got to heal our country, or, as the Bible says, 'repair the breach', because we have so much divisiveness right now," she said. "We've got to start listening to each other, respecting each other."

By contrast, Mr Trump issued warnings that the US was on a downward slope, repeated his assertion that the election was "rigged" and called his rival the "most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency".

He also promised to "bring back the auto industry bigger and better and stronger than ever before" and promised that, if he won the election: "We're going to have real change, not Obama change."

Election day voting began just after midnight in the small New Hampshire village of Dixville Notch. A record number of Americans - more than 46 million - have voted early by post or at polling stations.

Results are expected some time after 23:00 EST (04:00 GMT on Wednesday) once voting ends on the West Coast.

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