Former Beatle Paul McCartney racked up yet another honor on Friday when he received the MusiCares 2012 Person of the Year award at a star-studded ceremony hosted by Grammy organizers ahead of this weekend’s major music awards.
The line-up of artists celebrating the former member of the Fab Four at the charitable affair included veteran artists Neil Young and James Taylor, singers Katy Perry, Norah Jones, Alicia Keys and Diana Krall, and pop rockers Coldplay and the Foo Fighters.
McCartney opened with his own rendition of Magical Mystery Tour and throughout the night of tributes a string of performers sang tunes from his life’s work.
Photo: Reuters
Katy Perry belted out a rendition of Hey Jude. Neil Young rocked the house with I Saw Her Standing There. Cold Play sang We Can Work it Out, and Alicia Keys gave a soulful version of Blackbird on piano.
“For me, obviously it’s great to hear these fantastic artists singing my songs,” McCartney said when it came time to accept his award.
He noted the different nuances each artist brought to his music and, of course, thanked everyone there.
Actor-comedian Eddie Izzard hosted the event to honor McCartney for his creative accomplishments over decades in the industry and his charitable work off the rock ‘n’ roll stage.
The gala for MusicCares, which is supported by Grammy organizers at the Recording Academy, raised US$6.5 million to provide aid to musicians in need of help. The night featured a live auction of a red and cobalt blue piano, painted by Peter Max for Ringo Starr, that sold for US$175,000.
It has been a big week in Hollywood for McCartney, who made history as a Beatle with John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
He emblazoned his name across a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame alongside his former mates near the legendary Capitol Records building. He is scheduled to perform at the music industry’s top awards show, the Grammys, today.
After the infamous breakup of the Beatles in 1970, McCartney went on to score hits with his band Wings and in duets with the likes of Michael Jackson and others. His solo career has flourished and he has a new album, Kisses on the Bottom, that was just released.
It features songs McCartney has said he loved as a child growing up in Liverpool including Bye Bye Blackbird and It’s Only a Paper Moon. And it has two new songs, Only Our Hearts and My Valentine, that McCartney reportedly wrote for his new wife, Nancy Shevell.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS