Lady Gaga performs at AIDS gala
LOS ANGELES — Lady Gaga is continuing her jazzy period.
The entertainer performed an hour-long jazz set Oct. 29, at the American Foundation for AIDS Research’s tribute to Ryan Murphy.
“I love Ryan so much, and I’m so, so happy to be here,” said Gaga, who stars on the current season of the writer-director’s FX hit, American Horror Story.
Gaga dedicated the ’60s standard Call Me Irresponsible to Murphy, who was the guest of honour at amfAR’s Los Angeles Inspiration Gala. Murphy pledged to serve as “a lifelong ambassador” for the organization, which aims to find a cure for AIDS by 2020.
Murphy said the evening raised $3.1 million toward that goal.
Gaga contributed to the total during a live auction conducted by Sharon Stone. Gaga bid a winning $200,000 on a photograph of Elizabeth Taylor flipping the bird. Cuba Gooding, Jr. engaged in a brief bidding war with billionaire Barry Diller for a pair of platinum diamond earrings. Diller won with $60,000.
Gwyneth Paltrow hosted the fundraiser at Milk Studios, which also included appearances by Julia Roberts, Angela Bassett and Matt Bomer.
Murphy may have been the guest of honour, but Gaga was the reigning diva. She wore a long dusty pink gown with floorsweeping kimono sleeves, an intricate diamond collar, and a platinum blond beehive.
“You know, there are a lot of gentlemen here, but nobody’s offered me a glass of champagne yet,” she said from the stage.
Someone brought her a glass, which she drank in one swallow.
Gaga performed Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down), which she recorded for her 2014 album with Tony Bennett, Cheek to Cheek.
She played piano as she sang her new single, Til it Happens to You, a song she co-wrote with Diane Warren for the 2015 documentary The Hunting Ground. Gaga said her performance was inspired by Murphy.