Joan Jett was given the Rocker of the Year award last week at the star-studded Little Kids Rock Benefit at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, an event that raised $1.5 million to return music education to public schools.
The musical tribute to Jett on Thursday included a list of past and present entertainers who performed the rocker's songs and paid homage to her, including Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Alice Cooper, Tommy James, Jesse Malin, Darlene Love, Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill along with husband Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz of the Beastie Boys, and
Gary U.S. Bonds, according to the Asbury Park Press.
The newspaper said one of the highlights of the show came when Jett and James performed a duet of the "Crimson and Clover," a hit for Jett and her band the Blackhearts in 1982. James, with the Shondells, first hit the Billboard charts with the song in 1968.
Joe Lynch, of Billboard magazine, wrote that "Sopranos" actor Steven van Zandt, a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, helped organize the event and was one of the performers as well.
"The people who came out tonight were unbelievable," Jett told Billboard, calling the night "surreal." "I can't even take it in yet, but in the middle of the night, I'll be freaking out. It was so beautiful."
Lynch said some stars took a walk down memory lane, reminiscing on when Jett was a member of the the Runaways, one of the first successful all-female rock bands in the 1970s.
"We did a lot of shows with the Runaways in the '70s," Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen told Billboard. "We've known Joanie since she was 15."
Cheap Trick bassist Tom Peterson pointed to a picture him and Jett during a Cheap Trick and Runaways show in the 1970s with Tom Petty.
"We've known a lot of people a long while, but it's more than that with Joan," Nielsen said to Billboard. "She's a special one."
Little Kids Rock trains public school teachers and donates instruments, resources, and music education efforts. Billboard said the organization benefits more than 135,000 low-income public school children.
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