Grammys 2013: Mood lifts at Clive Davis gala

This post has been updated. Please see below for details.

The annual pre-Grammy gala known as the Clive Davis party is an A-list showbiz summit — “the invite everybody wants,� as CBS boss Les Moonves put it — masquerading as an intimate hang. This year’s event Saturday at the Beverly Hilton was no exception.

That’s why Usher, R&B’s crown prince, admitted to the packed ballroom that he once planned to use the stage name Cha Cha. He was doing his part to make the star-studded audience feel like family.

But he was aiming to keep the mood light too: Saturday’s party came days away from the anniversary of Whitney Houston’s death, which last year transformed the gala — held mere hours after Houston was found dead in a room at the hotel — into a somber tribute to the artist Davis called “the greatest singer of our lifetime.�

PHOTOS: Clive Davis pre-Grammys gala

On Saturday Davis remembered his protégé with some words and a video clip from an early TV special; he also thanked Houston’s brother Gary and sister-in-law Pat for coming. (The singer’s mother, Cissy Houston, told “Access Hollywood� last week that she considered Davis’ invitation “the most obscene thing.�)

For the most part, though, Saturday’s three-hour bash — attended by Sting, Miley Cyrus, Joni Mitchell, Magic Johnson, Katy Perry, Johnny Depp and Frank Ocean, among many others — seemed designed for uplift, not reflection.

That’s what you had to assume, anyway, when Afrojack turned up to blast the black-tie crowd with throbbing electro-house beats, including “Titanium,� the Dutch DJ’s fist-pumping collaboration with David Guetta and Sia.

“I wanted the culture of [electronic dance music] to be represented tonight,� Davis said, and so it was — even if the sound proved a strange match for the ballroom setting.

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Following Afrojack’s opening set, Davis brought to the stage Patti Smith, whom he signed to Arista Records in 1975; she played “Gloria� and “People Have the Power,� leading a band that included her daughter, Jesse, on keyboards. Miguel sang “Sure Thing� and the Grammy-nominated “Adorn,� and the Lumineers did their Top 10 hit “Ho Hey.�

Usher’s performance of “U Got It Bad� and “Climax� doubled as a toast to this year’s recipient of the so-called Industry Icon award, Epic Records chairman (and “X Factor� judge) Antonio “L.A.� Reid. Known for his work with OutKast, Justin Bieber and Avril Lavigne, among others, he’s also the guy who advised Usher not to go by Cha Cha.

“Thank you for that,� the singer said, getting laughs from the well-lubricated room.

Saturday’s show closed with a triple play of female soul singers, beginning with Emeli Sandé, the young British artist who apparently does for Davis what Leona Lewis used to. Jennifer Hudson was up next with a typically expert rendition of Gladys Knight’s “Where Peaceful Waters Flow.� Then Knight herself joined Hudson for “I Heard It Through the Grapevine� before wrapping up with the inevitable “Midnight Train to Georgia.�

Did it sound like Knight had ridden that train about a billion times before? It most certainly did. But that didn’t stop the assembled glitterati from happily joining her anyway.

<b>Update, 9:30 p.m.</b> An earlier version of this post identified Saturday as the anniversary of Whitney Houston’s death. The anniversary actually falls on Monday.