Barack Obama took a brief and unexpected turn as an R&B vocalist at a fundraiser, belted out a line from Al Green's famous song Let's stay together
Barack Obama took a brief and unexpected turn as an R&B vocalist at a fundraiser, belted out a line from Al Green's famous song Let's stay together
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Crooner-in-Chief: People in the audience started clapping when US
President Barack Obama started singing the first line of the Al Green
classic. pic/AFP
He then joked that he hadn't been ushered offstage. It happened at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem late Thursday, when Obama stepped to the podium and veered from prepared remarks to thank Green for warming up the crowd.
Obama suddenly launched into 'Let's Stay Together,' warbling "I, I'm so in love with you" -- complete with vibrato. He stopped to laughter and applause, and remarked that his staff didn't believe he'd do it. Obama's crowd-pleasing performance came on a night when he talked up his administration's record on issues such as healthcare, job creation and the end of the Iraq war.
Thanking his campaign supporter, he warned against complacency in the 2012 election year. He said, "It shouldn't make you satisfied, because everything we did over the last three years is now at stake in this election."
"America is not going to win if we do the same things, he added. Obama reached New York late in the evening for the fund-raising event after a hectic day that took him from Washington to Florida to Disneyland.
While at Disneyland, he said his two daughters would envy him for being there. "It is great to be here. It is rare that I get to do something that Sasha and Malia envy me for," Obama said at the top of his remarks as he announced his new tourism policy yesterday.
Singing politicians
*u00a0Vladimir Putin
Kurt Russell, Goldie Hawn and Sharon Stone were among the Hollywood stars in attendance as Putin took to the mic to sing -- and play a piano solo for -- the Fats Domino classic Blueberry Hill.
* Silvio Berlusconi
The former Italian PM has recorded two albums of Neapolitan song albums Meglio na canzone in 2003 and L'ultimo amore in 2006
* Bill Clinton
Singing Imagine with 16-year old Israeli phenomena Liel at Shimon Peres's 80th birthday, the former US President seemed unsure about all the words.
* Hugo Chavez
The Venezuelan president lent his voice to a couple of revolutionary tunes on a collection of songs and poems released by his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). In the past, he also sang a song about his tricky relationship with Hillary Clinton.
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