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Sir Elton is king of karaoke at £385,000 celebrity sing-song
Last updated at 11:52am on 22.06.07It was a karaoke evening unlike any other.
Some of the best known names in rock and pop sang their hearts out to raise £385,000 for charity at Ronnie Scott's jazz club.
Guests, among them Kate Moss, David Walliams and Elle Macpherson, were invited to bid to hear their favourite singer belt out the classic of their choice.
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Sir Elton singing Are You Lonesome Tonight and Lulu belting out Shout
Winning bidders could either be serenaded by the singer or perform a duet.
Sir Elton John - who appeared to have taken his style cues from Harry Potter - sang the Elvis standard Are You Lonesome Tonight? and raised £110,000 for the Hoping Foundation, a charity that supports Palestinian children.
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Shane MacGowan and James Blunt in the audience with Diana Jenkins and Tamara Mellon;
That was the biggest sum paid during the evening and beats the £60,000 paid by the entrepreneur Philip Green to watch Kate Moss kiss Jemima Khan last year.
This time the stars were asked to sing not snog.
Which is probably just as well because £30,000 was bid to hear former Pogue Shane McGowan perform what was described as "a somewhat unique interpretation" of Billy Joel's We Didn't Start The Fire.
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Nick Cave and the winning bidder
He was accompanied by the winning bidder.
Others performers were Bryan Adams (raising £30,000 for Rocking All Over The World); Mick Jones (£20,000, Should I Stay Or Should I Go); Lulu and others (£35,000 for Shout); Sharleen Spiteri (£20,000, It Takes Two); Chrissie Hynde (£20,000, Born To Be Wild); Jools Holland and James Blunt (£50,000, Summertime).
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Sister act: Jemima Khan and Sheherazade Goldsmith, charity committee members
It's not clear how much was raised by Trinny Woodall's rendition of Angels nor Tracey Emin's Sunday Girl.
In the audience were the two main organisers, fashion designer Bella Freud and Karma Nabulsi, a fellow in politics at St Edmund Hall, Oxford.
The Hoping Foundation - standing for Hope and Optimism for Palestinians in the Next Generation - aims to improve the health and education of Palestinian children.
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Separated at birth? Sir Elton channeled Harry Potter
Ms Khan, in the news after her two Bengal cats went missing - although one has since turned up - is thought to have refrained from singing the Tom Jones classic What's New Pussycat?
