Former honoree Barry Manilow confessed “I always wanted to marry Elton John”. However, when Elton received his award from Barry he stated, “It wouldn’t work out…we would be fighting each other for space in front of the mirror.”

Others singing their hearts out for Elton, included 18 year old blonde beauty, Joss Stone, considered the most precociously gifted vocalist of her generation; and the legendary Lulu, the only British female artist to appear in the charts for five straight decades! After singing her classic hit, “To Sir, With Love”, she added, “I never thought I would sing this song, and mean it, to another Sir”.

receiving Ella Award However, the catchiest tune that evening was that a huge amount of money was raised to meet the emergency financial needs of professional singers worldwide. Thanks go to Ginny Mancini, and her hard working board for a magical, musical mélange.

And on the subject of magical music, Grammy Award winning composer Burt Bacharach invited us to a “Listening Party” at the Cinegrill at the Hollywood Roosevelt to preview his new album “At This Time”. For the first time, Burt has written the lyrics, and sings vocals on one of the songs because, as he says, “I have things to say”. Unlike his cool love songs such as “What the World Needs Now is Love”, or “The Look of Love”, this album is definitely political, and expresses his views on war, violence and concern about the future for his kids.

The CD will be released on November 1 (my Birthday, I might add) and should really rock the boat on the Hollywood Beat.