Elizabeth Taylor: A Musical Celebration

Just days after being invested as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II, Dame Elizabeth was honoured at London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall with Elizabeth Taylor: A Musical Celebration, featuring some of the world’s top performers. Sir David Frost and Stephen Fry presided over the evening, which included performances by Jamiroquai’s Jay Kay, Tony Bennett, Andrea Bocelli, and Reba MacEntire, as well as appearances by actresses Susan George and Joan Collins. (Debbie Harry and Charles Aznavour also participated, but their appearances were cut from the television broadcast.) Dame Elizabeth, accompanied by her friend Michael Jackson, watched the proceedings from the royal box.

“Elizabeth Taylor has crammed more adventure into one life than Indiana Jones, had more perils than Pauline, been married more times than Henry VIII and through tireless charity work saved more lives than Florence Nightingale and James Bond,” said Collins. Between the performances were clips from various points in Dame Elizabeth’s life and film career. At the finale—after a rousing rendition of ‘There Is Nothing Like a Dame’—Elizabeth took to the stage to make a plea for support for the cause closest to her heart: AIDS. “Although we’ve made tremendous strides in terms of treating this terrible disease, sadly the benefits of that research are only available to a few,” she said.

The evening benefitted the Red Hot AIDS Charitable Trust and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.