If there’s one person who knows how to throw a party, it’s Elton John. And his sixth annual "An Enduring Vision" benefit for the Elton John AIDS Foundation proved that point yet again. The event, held Sept. 25 at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria hotel, contained several memorable moments. After waiters cleared our appetizer plates (mozzarella balls in a parmesan-crust bowl), Sir Elton came to the stage with a review: "The first course is now going to the Food and Drug Administration to find out what it was." One of the night’s honorees, Sharon Osbourne, used her time on stage to profess her love for the evening’s host, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper. "Anderson Cooper, I love him!" she gushed. Alas, Cooper had already dashed off to host AC360, so he missed the shout-out.
But as always, the highlight of the night was the musical performance. This year, after Elton kicked things off with solo renditions of "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" and "Levon," inaugural EW cover girl k.d. lang took a stage for a thrilling, drop dead gorgeous five-song set that featured the most beautiful cover of Leonard Cohen’s "Hallelujah" that I’ve ever heard. The pair capped off the night with a lovely duet of "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word." Check out some video, after the jump, from that night and see why none of us were the least bit sorry we showed up.
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It is a sad world we live in when Britney Spears makes millions of dollars for “singing” and k.d. lang is barely on the pop culture radar, let alone the radio. She is amazingly talented. Wish she’d get more publicity.
The title of “the most beautiful cover of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’” will always belong to Jeff Buckley. Kthxbye.
Well, I guess Anderson Cooper isn’t trying to stay in the closet too hard if he’s hosting Elton John’s AIDS benefit.
k.d. lang has the best female voice ever… Her duets with Roy Orbison and Tony Bennet among others are a joy to hear. Her talent coupled with that of Elton John cannot be bad either.
we saw kd lang with lyle lovett a couple of months ago at the Charlottesville pavilion and while i wasn’t really a fan of hers (i was there for Lyle) just thinking about her performance of Hallelujah still gives me goosebumps. She was incredible! Wow. Really.
Allison Crowe, also a Canadian, but a singer of a new generation, performs the most amazing “Hallelujah” I’ve experienced. (And I’ve witnessed plenty.)
It’s a beautiful song, period!
So wonderful that famous people are taking part in fund raising for Aids, plus sharing their talent.
Elton we all thank you for the work you put into this, as well as asking kd to join you. Beautiful performance.
Bill K
Toronto, Ontario Canada.
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