Cannes: Priyanka Chopra’s husband and pop star Nick Jonas performed his headbanger number ‘Jealous’ in a white tuxedo jacket at the annual HIV-AIDS charity dinner at Cannes, getting the global A-list invitees up on their feet after dinner was served late on Thursday night, reports ‘Variety’.
“I had the pleasure of playing [the Four Seasons frontman] Frankie Valli in a movie coming out later this year called ‘Jersey Boys’,” Jonas said, before crooning the Valli ballad ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’.
Nick, who was rocking out on a guitar, was joined by his brother Joe, who serenaded Cannes with ‘Cake by the Ocean’ — the smash 2015 pop song from his band DNCE.
Before the Jonas Brothers performed, Cher, despite her 78 years, belted out one hit number after another for 15 minutes, dressed in a dazzling sequined purple pantsuit, from her own ‘Believe’ to an acoustic rendition of ‘Walking in Memphis’, Marc Cohn’s ballad that she had covered on her 1995 album ‘It’s a Man’s World’, ‘Variety’ adds.
The 30th edition of amfAR Cannes drew a crowd of high bidders and celebrities that included, according to ‘Variety’, Michelle Yeoh, Magic Johnson, Heidi Klum, Kelly Rowland, Colman Domingo, Paris Jackson, Andie MacDowell, Tommy Hilfiger, Michelle Rodriguez and Maria Bakalova.
Demi Moore, who served as the evening’s host, kicked off the night by reminding the crowd of amfAR’s mission.
“This has become the single most important year of the night in the fight against HIV,” she said. “With your help, amfAR Cannes has raised more than a quarter of a billion dollars.”
Moore recalled how she last hosted the black-tie charity dinner in 1997, filling in for one of the pioneering founders of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, ‘Variety’ notes.
“I happened to be a pinch hitter because the great Elizabeth Taylor personally called me at the last minute because she couldn’t make it,” Moore said. “Everyone that year was abuzz about a new research breakthrough — a powerful drug cocktail made possible in part by amfAR’s research that stopped people from dying of AIDs almost overnight.”
Concluding on a note of hope, she said, “And now, a single pill each day allows many people living with HIV to enjoy a long and beautiful, full life.”
