Sir Paul McCartney took to the stage at a star-studded Hamptons benefit for the Apollo Theater and admitted it was the legendary Harlem venue and the music it inspired that made The Beatles to come to America.
McCartney — fresh from playing to an estimated 900 million people at the London Olympics opening ceremony — joined a superstar lineup at Ronald Perelman’s Creeks estate in East Hampton on Saturday night. Speaking of the Apollo, McCartney told an intimate crowd of New York power players, “Where would we have been without you? In Liverpool, we [The Beatles] would have stayed there.”
The Beatle, with wife Nancy Shevell, was seen dancing to performances by the Isley Brothers, Usher and a Whitney Houston medley from Jennifer Hudson.
To close the night, McCartney performed “Twist and Shout,” the song that he had tried to perform with Bruce Springsteen at London’s Hyde Park earlier this summer until organizers pulled the plug because they’d gone past the park curfew, with Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Usher, Pharrell Williams, Hudson, Ron and Erney Isley and hot new artist Leah LaBelle.
“This isn’t karaoke for millionaires, it is karaoke for billionaires,” Usher had earlier joked as he surveyed the audience of power players at the exclusive fund-raiser, which raised $2 million to support programs at the Apollo.
Guests included New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft and Universal Studios president Ron Meyer. Also there were LA Reid, Ronald Lauder and new power couple Tamara Mellon and Mike Ovitz.
Usher, who got the room dancing with a series of hit also made an emotional speech, and perhaps referring to the recent tragic loss of his stepson, he said, “For all the hard times, you can’t do it without your friends, so I just want to toast a second . . . Thank you for allowing me to share this incredible moment with you.” Raising a glass, he added, “Cheers for tears.” [For more on the party, see Cindy Adams on Page 12.]