A-listers and legends sing at galas
Lil Wayne, Frankie Valli shine at Clive Davis’ party, and MusiCares honors Motown greats.
SAY THIS for Clive Davis’ annual preGrammy gala: It might be the only party in Los Angeles where Frankie Valli is as likely to spark a singalong as Lil Wayne.
Both men set off the starpacked ballroom Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton — Valli early in the evening with a zesty rendition of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” Wayne a few hours later with his louche rap hit “Lollipop.” Did the 88-year-old pop smoothie and the raspy-voiced hip-hop eccentric mingle backstage, maybe trade war stories (or plot a viral TikTok duet)? Who knows. But each seemed to delight in the fact that he was reaching — and pleasing — the other’s audience.
Held in person for the first time since 2020, Davis’ signature Grammy weekend event — which the 90-year-old record exec presents in partnership with the Recording Academy — drew its usual blend of far-flung A-listers from the overlapping worlds of music, movies, politics and tech. Tom Hanks and Joni Mitchell and Metallica’s Lars Ulrich were there, as were Smokey Robinson, Lil Nas X, Apple CEO Tim Cook and
former U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), who was accompanied by her husband, Paul, just months after he was attacked in their San Francisco home. Both got an enthusiastic round of applause as Davis introduced them from the stage.
Also in the crowd: Olivia Rodrigo and Demi Lovato, the latter of whom posted a video on Instagram of the former wilding out to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.”
The ostensible purpose of the invite-only party was to bestow the academy’s Industry Icon award on Julie Greenwald and Craig Kallman, who in their joint role running Atlantic Records have scored successes with Lizzo and Brandi Carlile — both nominated for album of the year at Sunday’s Grammys — and Cardi B, who warmly described Greenwald as “a boss-ass bitch” as she toasted the duo. Yet the night’s real point was the hobnobbing and the performances by Davis’ hand-picked array of acts. The Italian rock band Måneskin kicked off the show with its cover of the Four Seasons’ “Beggin’ ” — big night for Valli! — and Lizzo, who belted her “Break Up Twice.”Latto dropped by for a quick run through her boisterous pop-rap hit “Big Energy,” and Lil Baby cooled the air with his woozy “California Breeze.”
Veterans on the bill included Elvis Costello, who did a rowdy version of his “Pump It Up” with help from the Colombian rocker Juanes, and Sheryl Crow, who paid tribute to the late Christine McVie with affectionate performances of Fleetwood Mac’s “Songbird” and “You Make Loving Fun.”
To honor his late protégé Whitney Houston, who died in 2012 at the Beverly Hilton just hours before that year’s gala was to begin, Davis had another of his protégés, Jennifer Hudson, sing “Greatest Love of All.” As usual, Hudson smashed it, though it also made you wonder why Davis has never found a song that big for Hudson to make her own. The Houston remembrance also included a lengthy and somewhat macabre appearance by Kevin Costner, who regaled the crowd with thoughts from his time working with the singer on “The Bodyguard” before turning to Davis to say something he said he’d never told him before.
“Maybe this isn’t the room for it, but I don’t want to miss the moment,” Costner said. “Neither one of us, in the end, could protect your beloved Whitney. But your fingerprints on her life are clean, my friend.”
Heavy energy for an otherwise jubilant occasion.
Earlier, the Motown sound rang in Grammys weekend. Friday night’s MusiCares Persons of the Year gala marked the first time the Recording Academy’s charitable organization honored the work and philanthropy of two musicians instead of just one at its annual tribute concert.
It was also the first time one honoree sang a tender song of devotion to the other.
“In my life I have been blessed enough to get a few awards,” Smokey Robinson told the crowd of donors and industry types (including Elton John) at the Los Angeles Convention Center near the end of the twohour event. “But this one is really, really, really, probably the most special to me because I’m getting this award tonight with my very best friend in the world”: 93-year-old Motown Records founder Berry Gordy. Robinson, 82, went on to say that meeting Gordy — with whom he revolutionized Black pop as a singer and writer of such foundational classics as “Shop Around,” “My Girl,” “The Tears of a Clown,” “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” “Ooo Baby Baby,” “Get Ready” and “I Second That Emotion” — “was the beginning of my dream come true.”
Accompanied by a pianist, his voice the same feathery wonder it’s been for decades, Robinson then performed a florid new ballad he said he’d written about “the best friendship in history” before Gordy joined him onstage for a few words of his own.
“I’m happy to be here with my best friend,” Gordy said. “I mean, damn!”
Friday’s concert was a worthy if conventional testament to their highly productive bromance.
The current versions of the Temptations and the Four Tops (each with one original member) offered crisp medleys of their Motown staples with neat choreography to match; another Motown alum, Valerie Simpson, sang “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” with help from country singer Jimmie Allen.
Stevie Wonder played the Miracles’ “I’ll Try Something New” on his signature harpejji then remade “The Tears of a Clown” as — hey, why not? — a killer reggae jam.
With an impish grin, he told the audience that Robinson hadn’t necessarily approved of the creative liberties he’d taken. “Just keeping it real,” he added. “But a great song never dies. You just keep on finding different ways of doing it.” Wonder picked the right guys’ stuff to prove it.