Forget the Oscars or the Grammys.
The crowd at Clive Davis’s 51st annual pre-Grammy dinner last night in Hollywood was massively over the top.
I don’t just mean the performers — everyone from new hitmakers Jelly Rolly, Olivia Dean, Alex Warren — to legacy stars like Art Garfunkel, who brought the house down with “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
The audience was off the hook with Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, Nancy Pelosi, Oscar nominee Teyana Taylor, Shaboozey, and on and on.
No less than former president Barack Obama sent a video introduction praising the 93 year legendary music mogul.
Gayle King quoted songwriter Diane Warren about Davis: “The best friend a song ever had.”
Then journalist Don Lemon received the most thunderous standing ovation from the ballroom packed with celebrities. Lemon arrived from being arrested by the Trump government for doing his job as a reporter and exercising his First Amendment rights. He got a hero’s welcome.
There were tables and tables of stars. One included Motown founder Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, and Valerie Simpson with Suzanne dePasse. Stevie Wonder made a beeline over there, then appeared on stage for a touching tribute to Republic Records honorees Monte and Avery Lipman.
The room ranged from the very legendary 91 year old Frankie Valli to hot young star Yungblood. There was Paris Hilton, parents Kathy and Rick, Whitney Houston producer Narada Michael Walden and Whitney’s sister-in-law/manager Pat Houston, Jimmy “Jam”Harris with his beautiful wife and daughter, top of the pops singer Noah Kahan, comedians Jeff Ross and Alex Edelman…
More performers: Darren Criss and Laufey stole the show their Bernie Taupin tribute on “Bennie and the Jets” and “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.”
Machine Gun Kelly — MGK –and Jelly Roll — now half his original size — opened the show with a rocking tribute to Ozzy Osbourne.
All these hot young acts — SOMBR, Olivia Dean, Alex Warren — showed that the future is bright for pop music.
So did the KPop singers from “Demon Hunters” who sang their smash hit, “Golden.”
There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when legendary singer Art Garfunkel closed the three hour show with “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” thanking Davis for his career as one half of Simon and Garfunkel. No less than Lana Del Rey broke into tears at my table. Brandi Carlile was beside herself.
Garfunkel’s stirring finale was preceded by superstars Dan and Shay singing SG’s “Mrs. Robinson” and Garfunkel’s mid 70s hit, “All I Know.”
My own dinner partners included superstars Melissa Manchester, Taylor Dayne, and Ray Parker Jr.
Jennifer Hudson stunned the crowd with a magnificent cover of Roberta Flack’s “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” The full force of her sensational voice actually stopped the crowd of nearly 1,000 stars and commanded their attention. Wow!
It’s stunning to see Davis, almost 94, in an exquisite black on black beaded bespoke jacket, run the show from the stage for three hours, for the 51st year in a row. He called the hundreds of guests an “extended family,” and he was so right. There were people who’ve been coming for all five decades, always looking for the new party to top the old ones — and they’re never disappointed!
Who else was there? Martha Stewart, Paul Stanley from KISS, Cameron Crowe, Verdine White from Earth Wind & Fire, John Legend (who blew the stage out with Pusha T and Malice — sensational) and his famous wife Chrissy Teigen. Everyone wanted a picture with Oscar nominated actor Colman Domingo. Davis also had Kenny G, Karol G, and Becky G!
How about “Succession” star Brian Cox, Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters fame? Matt Sorum, famed producer Peter Asher, Diplo, John Stamos, LA Reid, all the music label heads like Lucian Grainge of Universal Music, Rob Stringer from Sony/Columbia Records, Tom Corson of Warner Music, and even Tommy Mottola! Larry Jackson took bows for his Gamma Records at Apple Music. The gangs from Sirius and Spotify were on hand!
Other tables were centered around Demi Lovato, Bebe Rexha, and actress Rita Wilson. Busta Rhymes was so in demand for selfies, people down front were asking him to sit down! Pharrell Williams got a Davis shout out, as did Heidi Klum.
Recording Academy president Harvey Mason Jr. also welcomed the crowd that included “Wicked” star Jeff Goldblum, “Knots Landing” star Michele Lee, Paul Shaffer, Jack Antonoff, Madison Beer, Babyface, Lil Jon and the elegant Paris Jackson. Also “Weird” Al Yankovic, Billy Porter, MSNOW’s Ari Melber, CBS’s Anthony Mason, and so on!
And, oh Hollywood! Clive was able fit even more people in the ballroom last night because everyone here is on Ozempic!
More to come…keep refreshing…
