Seconds after Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson entered the holding room where presenters and performers at Clive Davis’ annual pre-Grammy gala were to take this picture, someone became starstruck — but who that was might surprise you.
“It’s Jelly Roll!” Wilson shouted excitedly as she saw the Grammy-nominated singer-rapper. But the feeling was mutual, as Jelly Roll later murmured, if only to himself, about the surrealness of the moment. He was standing in proximity to Hanks and Wilson as Dionne Warwick sat nearby and members of Green Day were hanging out while everyone waited for one of music’s greatest architects — Davis himself — to arrive.
The interaction was just one of several “pinch-me” moments as the likes of The Isley Brothers, Maluma, Josh Groban, Lainey Wilson and many more came together to take a snapshot with Davis and commemorate the night of amazing music that was to come at the legendary party, where guests included Mariah Carey, Berry Gordy, Megan Thee Stallion and Meryl Streep and performers ranged from Stevie Wonder and Gladys Knight to Andra Day and Ice Spice.
At the photo shoot, Keyshia Cole told Victoria Monét how proud she was of her. The War and Treaty and Monét paid homage to Ronald Isley, with Monét literally bowing to him. There was even a brief, impromptu performance of “We Are the World” — in the zeitgeist thanks to the Netflix doc The Greatest Night in Pop. Quipped Billie Joe Armstrong as Green Day took selfies with Public Enemy: “Future World Tour!”
1 Chuck D 2 Victoria Monét 3 Ernie Isley 4 Ronald Isley 5 Keyshia Cole 6 Clive Davis 7 Dionne Warwick 8 Rickey Minor 9 Flavor Flav 10 Noah Kahan 11 Josh Groban 12 Tré Cool 13 Billie Joe Armstrong 14 Mike Dirnt 15 Lainey Wilson 16 Andrew Wyatt 17 Harvey Mason Jr. 18 Mark Ronson 19 Maluma 20 Tom Hanks 21 Rita Wilson 22 Jelly Roll 23 Michael Trotter Jr. 24 Tanya Trotter 25 Andra Day
This story first appeared in the Feb. 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.