STEVIE Wonder gave an
emotional speech that silenced the crowd, Garth Brooks was misty eyed, and Billy
Joel was classic when he performed New York State of Mind, (below).
THE ASCAP
Centennial Awards on Monday night honoured the musical icons - including Joan
Baez and Stephen Sondheim - at a gala in New York City.
"It is an amazing world
when you think about writing songs and talking about things when people say,
'How can you write about that and you can't see them?' But the reality is seeing
is feeling them; feeling them is in the spirit," Wonder, 64, told the crowd at
the Waldorf Astoria.
"You hear (about)
pictures about how someone looks and you write songs like Isn't She Lovely - a
song I wrote about my first child, Aisha," he continued. "You write songs like
If It's Magic because you say, `What is the most magical thing in the world?'
And the most magical thing I see in the world is love."
Wonder closed the night,
singing such staples as Superstition. Grammy-winning R&B singer India.Arie
honoured the legend with a medley of songs including Blame It on the Sun and I
Just Called to Say I Love You, below.
She said she failed a Greek art class in college
because she spent too much time writing down Wonder lyrics.
Motown founder Berry
Gordy also paid tribute to Wonder. Instead of saying positive things about the
icon - because he said he has done it repeatedly at other events - he told the
crowd some of Wonder's flaws. He said the piano player was a "lousy driver" and
that his "golf game sucks". He also said Wonder was consistently late,
explaining that his seminal 1976 album, Songs in the Key of Life, came two years
behind schedule.
He later said the album
was the "key in Motown's life".
Wonder was just one of
the musicians to be honoured on Monday. Sting stunned the audience with a
performance of Joel's Big Man on Mulberry Street - ending with a high note that
even left Joel impressed. Trisha Yearwood, wearing a gorgeous white dress, sang
husband Brooks' If Tomorrow Never Came.
"I know the father. I
know the friend. I know the partner. I know the best friend. I am very proud of
Garth," she said before Brooks walked onstage in all black, including a cowboy
hat. "He is a good guy."
Brooks, who was
teary-eyed like his wife, kissed Yearwood onstage and performed a new song
called I Am A Song on his guitar.
Sondheim, one of the
biggest names in musical theatre who has won Tony Awards, Grammys, a Pulitzer
Prize and an Academy Award, didn't attend because he was ill.
He received a
sweet tribute from Bernadette Peters, who sang Children Will Listen from Into
the Woods.
Emmylou Harris carried the same energy when she sang in honour of
Baez.
"She became an ambassador
for freedom," said Harris, who sang Diamond and Rust.
"There will only ever be one
Joan Baez."
With thanks to The
Australian
Logo with thanks to Audio Corner
Picture of Emmylou Harris cited here:
