Katy Perry and Whitney Houston's hits feature in TV Christ story

Songs by Katy Perry, Imagine Dragons and Whitney Houston made up the soundtrack of ambitious TV event The Passion on Sunday (20Mar16).

Stars like Trisha Yearwood, Seal, and Chris Daughtry tackled the story of Jesus Christ's final days on the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana, using popular songs to chronicle the religious event on Palm Sunday.

"It's an amazing list of songs that come from all genres," Jencarlos Canela, who played Jesus, told People.

He sang Perry's Unconditionally backed by a choir, Creed's With Arms Wide Open, and Calling All Angels by Train, while country star Yearwood admits she was overcome with emotion as she tackled Whitney's My Love Is Your Love and You'll Never Walk Alone from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel, among other tunes, in her role as Mary.

"I'm having to sing songs that I'm going to be singing at the foot of the cross, and I had to be thinking about what was happening in the story when I was singing the song," she said before the epic event hit TV screens across America. "I got very emotional, which is not the norm for me in the studio."

But perhaps the most stirring performance of the TV event, which concluded with a procession through the streets of New Orleans, was Jesus and Judas' duet on Imagine Dragons' Demons.

Daughtry, as Judas, and Canela teamed up to belt out the modern rock classic.

Daughtry also sang Evanescence's Bring Me to Life, while Seal tackled Tears For Fears' Mad World solo and Tina Turner's We Don't Need Another Hero with Canela.

"It's a dream come true for me to do a duet with Seal," Canela told People.

Other songs featured included Hoobastank's The Reason, Phillip Phillips' Home, Kelly Rowland and David Guetta's When Love Takes Over, and Love Can Move Mountains by Celine Dion.