Jamie Foxx, John Legend, Nick Jonas and Sheryl Crow alond with Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder performed a plethora of Motown classics for Barack and Michelle.
According to Billboard >>
Obama on Thursday called Motown's music "the soundtrack of the civil rights era," and credited the pioneering record label's tight lyrics, catchy melodies and deep soul with helping to "blur the line between music that was considered either black or white."
Foxx, Seal, Legend and Jonas launched the East Room concert celebrating the Motown sound with a high-energy medley in which the four took turns as backup dancers, complete with some smooth dance moves to the likes of "Get Ready," "The Way You Do the Things You Do," "Can't Get Next to You" and "Ain't Too Proud to Beg."
Not to be outdone, the trio of Natasha Bedingfield, Jordin Sparks and Ledisi took a Supremes-esque turn singing "Stop! In the Name of Love."
Legend delivered a soulful rendition of "Heard It Through the Grapevine" that left Foxx, who also served as the program's host, to joke that nowadays the story was more likely to be "heard it through my Twitter."
Obama and the singers paid homage to the genuine Motown greats in the lineup: Robinson and Wonder.
And Motown founder Berry Gordy was in the audience to hear Obama recount his record label's modest beginnings in a basement on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, decorated with a banner outside that read "Hitsville, USA."
"At concerts in the South, Motown groups literally brought people together - insisting that the ropes traditionally used to separate black and white audience members be taken down," Obama recounted.
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