Pharrell Williams steals the show at Clive Davis party
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. — Pharrell Williams only intended to sing Get Lucky before ceding the stage to the guest of honor at Clive Davis' annual Pre-Grammys Gala Sunday. But when a gathering that includes former Vice President Al Gore, Apple CEO Tim Cook, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and dozens of the biggest stars in the music world start chanting, "Happy! Happy! Happy!," you give them Happy.
So Williams and the house band worked up an impromptu version of his hit while Sony/ATV Music Publishing chairman and CEO Martin Bandier, the recipient of the Recording Academy's President's Merit Award had to wait. Though the musicians took the song to a key too high for Williams to comfortably sing, the partygoers at the Beverly Hilton enjoyed it.
Davis, currently Sony Music Entertainment's chief creative officer and one of the best-known record executives in the history of American pop music, has hosted the party for 39 years, picking both the acts that perform and the songs they'll sing.
Sam Smith started the evening with a rendition of My Funny Valentine featuring solo piano accompaniment, followed by his Grammy-nominated single Stay With Me.
Smith was one of four artists nominated for either new artist, album, record or song of the year at tonight's Grammy Awards who performed at the party.
In addition to Smith and Williams, rapper Iggy Azalea performed Black Widow with Rita Ora, then brought Jennifer Hudson onstage to sing their new collaboration, Trouble. Meghan Trainor joined John Legend to sing Like I'm Gonna Lose You, a duet they recorded for her debut album.
The lineup boasted legends as well as young acts. Smokey Robinson brought Aloe Blacc, Miguel and JC Chasez with him to sing The Temptations hit My Girl, which he wrote. When Jamie Foxx took a microphone into the audience and took a solo, then let Earth, Wind & Fire's Philip Bailey do the same, Taylor Swift and members of Haim freaked out behind them. Then Robinson turned his solo hit Being With You into a duet with Mary J. Blige.
Blige was an audience favorite, getting a standing ovation when she sang her song Doubt, then getting more applause for taking a surprise chorus on Carole King's gospel rave-up version of You've Got a Friend.
Johnny Mathis got a standing ovation just for taking the stage. He quickly turned the evening into a Mathis mini-concert, seguing straight from It's Not for Me to Say into Chances Are, then singing Wonderful! Wonderful! and Misty, as well.
The evening ended with a tribute to the Bee Gees, one of this year's recipients of a Grammys' Lifetime Achievement Award. It began with a cappella group Pentatonix singing a medley of Bee Gees hits and ended with Barry Gibb, the last surviving member of the group, singing To Love Somebody.