With L.A.’s fires in mind, Clive Davis celebrates 50 years of his annual pre-Grammy gala

Half a century after he threw a small music-industry soirée to toast Barry Manilow’s first Grammy nomination for record of the year, 92-year-old Clive Davis on Saturday night celebrated the 50th anniversary of what quickly became his famous annual pre-Grammy gala.

There were drinks. There were speeches. And there was Manilow, still trim and impeccably coiffed at 81, performing his classic “Mandy” as video screens cut between today and clips from an appearance he and Davis made on “The Midnight Special” in 1975.

“Can you believe Clive looked like that?” Manilow asked the crowd of the debonair record executive who helped shepherd him to stardom. “Can you believe I looked like that?”

Clive Davis addresses the crowd.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Held at the Beverly Hilton ahead of Sunday’s 67th Grammys ceremony, Davis’ invite-only party drew a characteristically high-wattage crowd — guests included Jennifer Lopez, Gladys Knight, Alicia Keys, Berry Gordy, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, Jack Antonoff and Davis’ old pal Nancy Pelosi — for an evening of music and tactical hobnobbing that Jimmy Kimmel likened to “Clive Davis’ bar mitzvah.”

Among the acts who performed at that inaugural get-together, Kimmel joked as he introduced Davis: “Moses with the Bay City Rollers backing him up.”

Doechii performs.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Yet in the wake of last month’s devastating Los Angeles wildfires, Davis said he’d remade Saturday’s gala as a fundraiser for MusiCares, the Recording Academy’s philanthropic arm; he himself had made a “six-figure donation,” he said, urging the deep-pocketed in the house to contribute what they could to provide relief to music professionals in need.

The night’s entertainment opened with a rock ’n’ roll supergroup — brothers Chris and Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes, Metallica’s Robert Trujillo, producer Andrew Watt and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers — cranking through a medley of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath covers before Michael Bublé took over to pay tribute to the late Quincy Jones with a swinging rendition of “Fly Me to the Moon.”

Shaboozey performs.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Four of the Grammys’ eight best new artist nominees performed: Doechii, theater-kid exuberant in “Denial Is a River”; Teddy Swims, who growled his “Lose Control” wearing a bedazzled white suit; Shaboozey, beginning to tire a bit, perhaps, of his inescapable “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”; and mustachioed Benson Boone, new-rock-god resplendent in a leathery jumpsuit as he laid into the high notes of “Beautiful Things.”

Jazz singer Samara Joy, who won best new artist at the Grammys in 2023, did Betty Carter’s “Tight,” while gospel star Yolanda Adams channeled Whitney Houston in a solemn but flowery take on “I Will Always Love You.” (Davis, who signed Houston to his Arista label, almost always takes a moment at his party to remember the singer, who died at the Beverly Hilton in 2012 just hours before the event was set to begin.) Post Malone was there, too: He sang the wistful “Sunflower” — “my only good song,” per his description — in recognition of Universal Music Publishing Group Chief Executive Jody Gerson, who was presented with the Recording Academy’s Industry Icon award.

The high point, as it often is these days, was Joni Mitchell, a longtime Davis confidant, who sat onstage in a glittering throne — blond hair tucked beneath a beret, mischievous eyes hidden behind a pair of shades — and sang “Both Sides Now” and George Gershwin’s “Summertime” with a richness of tone that brought a room full of chatter and gossip to something pretty close to silence.

Joni Mitchell performs.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)