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.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to