A player’s players

Arriving in the final stretch of one of the bleakest award seasons on record, Clive Davis’ annual pre-Grammy party on Saturday night came as a reminder of certain inalienable Hollywood truths.

Even in a dust bowl year during which the Writers Guild of America strike effectively sucked the glamour out of the Golden Globe and People’s Choice awards and torpedoed Hollywood’s preeminent celebrity bash, Vanity Fair’s Oscar party, the only thing the entertainment industry likes better than self-congratulation is self-congratulation wrapped in a super-exclusive, star-studded event.

Music mogul Davis, chief executive of RCA Music Group, was introduced by Recording Academy President Neil Portnow at the Beverly Hilton event as “one of our most revered and iconic music men” and a “national treasure.” It’s the only way to explain Davis’ ability to pack the ballroom with a hodgepodge of stars from across the cultural spectrum: Whitney Houston, Quincy Jones, Dita Von Teese, Larry King, Lindsay Lohan, Jackie Collins, Super Bowl champ Michael Strahan, Rihanna, Yung Joc and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. among them.

Then there were the performances.

“American Idol” finalist Chris Daughtry ran through a short set with Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash and Nickelback lead singer Chad Kroeger that included a cover of Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Born on the Bayou.” “I was here last year, and I had to sit in the audience,” Daughtry said, “. . . watching everyone else perform.”

“Everyone else” this year included Foo Fighters, who dedicated the song “Best of You” to Davis, as well as Davis’ obligatory breaking artist, Leona Lewis, who will release her debut album on his J Records in April.

Opera’s most pop-chart-friendly superstar, Andrea Bocelli, and Josh Groban, pop’s most opera-minded Top 40 fixture, performed a duet of Celine Dion’s “The Prayer.” “My teachers told me, ‘Don’t sing after dinner,’ ” Bocelli joked from behind the mike. “But tonight was a special occasion.”

And another of Davis’ musical discoveries, Alicia Keys, took the stage for a rousing three-song set, bringing the formally attired crowd to its feet with her hit single “No One.”

It was past midnight when Akon and Wyclef Jean met on the Hilton’s proscenium to run through a whistle-stop medley of their respective hits, including Jean’s “If I Was President” (during which the rapper-singer-producer craftily inserted the lyric: “Clive Davis for president!”). With the music winding down, Jean said to Akon, “I’m not gonna end until we flip.”

Once both multi-platinum-selling hip-hop luminaries had executed rickety back flips onstage, the show was over.

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chris.lee@latimes.com