Celebs gather at London nightspot

June 18, 2010

The Mandarin Oriental played host to some of the biggest names in music last night (June 17th), as they gathered for a glitzy farewell party.

Among the guests at the London venue were Pixie Lott, members of the Sterophonics, Ronan Keating, Kaiser Chiefs, as well as veteran rockers Roger Daltrey and Brain May.

The reason for the star-studded bash was to say farewell to Lucian Grainge, who is relocating to New York to become global chief executive of Universal Music.

Lucian is currently chairman of Universal Music outside of the UK, and has been instrumental in breaking the careers of stars such as U2, Eminem and Lady GaGa.

Simon Cowell – no stranger to forging pop careers himself – even described him as "the most talented music industry executive in the British pop industry".

Guests such as Bob Geldof and one-time king of the London parties Jay Kay paid tribute to Lucian, before enjoying special performances from Scissor Sisters, Enrique Inglesias and Jamie Cullum.

Fellow pop impresario Louis Walsh said: "Lucian is a one-off. He can tell if a song's going to be a hit - and that's a gift."