Carole King thanked four people last night at the MusiCares Person of the Year Award dinner– James Taylor, the late Donnie Kirschner, her ex husband Gerry Goffin, and producer Lou Adler.

Who did Carole forget? Strangely she omitted Merry Clayton, the famed R&B back up singer. Clayton was in the audience and on the bill. She performed with her co-stars from “20 Feet to Stardom,” Darlene Love, Lisa Fischer, and Judith Hill.

Clayton is being touted right now for her work on the Rolling Stones record “Gimme Shelter.” But after she made that record in 1969, Clayton sang back up prominently on King’s “Tapestry” and “Music” albums. She gave those records their R&B gospel feel. Clayton released three albums of her own on Adler’s Ode label. One of the albums had four Carole King songs. She had a hit with King’s “Oh No Not My Baby.” King played piano on the record!

And yet, King didn’t mention Clayton at all, or even give her a nod for performing on the show. So weird. As far as I could tell, Clayton sat all night with the “20 Feet to Stardom” crowd. There was no interaction with King’s table. Maybe she and Clayton saw each other backstage. But for the 1,000 people in the audience they’d never know that one of last night’s performers helped King get the sound that made her own two best selling albums all time hits.

Seems Clayton, as per King, remains 20 feet from stardom still!

Lady Gaga, sans large cocoon type eggs or meat dresses, stole the show Friday night at the 24th annual MusiCares Person of the Year dinner for Carole King in Los Angeles.

Gaga, wearing a simple white gown with a white cape, was one of dozens of stars including King herself who performed songs from the composer’s astounding catalogue. Gaga accompanied herself on piano singing “You’ve Got A Friend” on a rotating turntable stage in the middle of a room of around one thousand industry insiders.

She “batted cleanup” so to speak, following the opening “Hi De Ho” from Steven Tyler and LeAnn Rimes; Pink singing “So Far Away”; Train with Pat Monahan on “I Feel the Earth Move.” And then Gaga sat down at a white Yamaha piano in the middle of the L.A. Convention Center ballroom and just blew everyone away with an intimate, throaty, bluesy version of King’s greatest song. The whole room went wild, with Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne among those cheering when Gaga came to a conclusion.

Later, when King accepted the MusiCares award, she cited Gaga’s performance. “The music flows through her,” King said.

And what a night. Before King and James Taylor took the stage to finish up the evening, a parade of performers serenaded the packed room that included celebs like Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, David Crosby, Valerie Simpson, Eddie Cibrian, Jerry Moss, Jimmy Jam Harris, Verdine White of Earth Wind & Fire, Peter Asher, Hoda Kotb, and Nancy Pelosi. Hillary Clinton even sent a video message for King.

Performances included Gloria Estefan “It’s Too Late” (Bonnie and Jackson’s table literally sang along with her); will.i.am and protege Leah McFall on “Love Makes the World Go Round”; Jason Mraz, Zac Brown, and Sara Bareilles on “Beautiful”; Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer and Judith Hill did a gorgeous “Way over Yonder”; Miguel with Kacey Musgreaves on “Crying in the Rain”; Alicia Keys did a beautiful job on “Natural Woman”; Jakob Dylan and Louise Goffin (King’s eldest child) jangled an acoustic “Goin’ Back”; and Jennifer Nettles, Amy Grant, Miranda and Martina McBride put together a medley of “Been to Canaan,” “I’m into Something Good,” “”It Might as Well Rain Until September,” and “One Fine Day.”

Yes, Carole King composed all those songs.

King and Taylor ripped through “Up on the Roof,” “Home Again,” “Sweet Seasons,” “Hey Girl,” Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” and a rocking version of “Jazzman” with surprise guest Tom Scott (he played on the hit record), King thanked Gerry Goffin, Lou Adler, Donnie Kirshner, and Taylor. The latter, she said, made her “step forward” from being a songwriter to a performer.

She said, “My dream is to hear great singers perform my songs. You can’t do any better than this.” Noting that the magic of the night would eventually wear off, she concluded, “Chickens today, feathers tomorrow.”

The nicest part of the night was seeing King and her family  up and dancing during each song, with Carole mouthing the words as if she were a fan.

Jimmy Kimmel hosted the show, which raised money for MusiCares, the Grammy foundation that supports musicians in need of all kinds of help from medical to personal and financial issues.

photo c 2014 Showbiz411

It’s the toughest ticket of the Grammy weekend, Clive Davis‘s pre-Grammy party. For some reason this year is bigger than ever with more bold faced names on the waiting list as the RSVPs come pouring in. Today Jennifer Hudson stopped by to do press with Clive. She’s singing at the show at the Beverly Hilton, sporting a new hot hair cut and her Weight Watchers figure  more svelte than ever. I did ask if she’d like to have dessert some time and she told her favorite: cheesecake! Wait til she tries Eileen’s Special Cheesecake in Soho. So much for Weight Watchers!

So who’s coming? Jamie Foxx has a table, and there’s word that he may be added to the all-star slate of performances as a guest star. Jane Fonda and her beau, legendary record producer Richard Perry will probably sit with The Band’s Robbie Robertson. Robin Thicke and Paula Patton are expected, as are Miley Cyrus, New Zealand phenom Miley Cyrus, and the hotter than a pistol duo of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

As has been the tradition recently, Clive partners with NARAS to honor a record industry icon. This year it’s Universal Music Group’s Lucian Grange.

I managed to ferret out a few more names on the guest list — not performers, because that’s an even more  secret list– and they include: Quincy Jones, without whom there can be no party; Alicia Keys with Swizz Beatz, Rod Stewart, Katy Perry and John Mayer, Neil Diamond, Neil Young, Daft Punk and Nile Rodgers, Rihanna, Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, Jackie Collins and Joan Collins– always the best table of the night– plus the inimitable Quincy Jones, the one and only Gladys Knight, and Smokey Robinson, legendary rocker John Fogerty, Kennedy Center honoree Herbie Hancock, R. Kelly, Bill Maher, Ludacris, The Foo Fighters, movie producer Brian Grazer, Kris Kristofferson, all the members of Metallica, Tony winner Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Sony’s Doug Morris, Warner Music’s Len Blavatnik, Apple’s Tim Cook, , Joan Rivers, Miguel, Kathy Griffin, Buzz Aldrin, Sean Parker,  rapper T.I., Imagine Dragons, Akon, Estelle, Kevin Bacon & Kyra Sedgwick,  Magic Johnson, Fantasia, and last but not least Sean Puffy Combs!

Can you imagine who else is coming? And this is the night after the MusiCares all star tribute to Carole King and the night before the Grammys!

I call it the Jingle Ball for Adults!

More names as they roll in…