MusiCares Tribute To Carole King Spans Generations, Genres
By Brian Ives
Carole King has won multiple GRAMMYs, and she's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as well as the Songwriters Hall of Fame. But if there's an official award for humility, surely she would be up for it.
"Tonight is really not about me," King said, when taking the stage during the a splashy tribute show in L.A Friday (Jan. 24), honoring her as the MusiCares 2014 Person of the Year. "It's about MusiCares. It's about the people who care."
Taking place as it usually does just before the GRAMMY Awards, the annual MusiCares Person of the Year event has in the past honored such artists as Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt and Gloria Estefan. This year's King tribute featured a stellar lineup of major artists from across multiple genres, all of whom honored the legendary singer-songwriter by performing covers of some of her best-known songs. Artists included Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Pink, Lady Gaga, Sara Bareilles, Zac Brown, Miranda Lambert and Alicia Keys.
Show host Jimmy Kimmel poked fun at the posh crowd and venue -- the Los Angeles Convention Center -- joking that "MusiCares asked, 'What venue seems least like the Troubadour?,'" a reference to the L.A. club where King often played in the early '70s. Throughout the night, Kimmel mocked the audience about their phones ("If I catch you texting during the performances I'm going to smash those f***ing phones over your heads!") and using them to capture video ("…so you can put it on YouTube and never watch it. Because that's what live music is all about.")