Hillary Clinton

Katy Perry Belts ‘Rise' And ‘Roar' at Democratic Convention

Perry was one of many celebrities on hand as Hillary Clinton accepted her party's nomination

Katy Perry sparkled in a slinky, silver dress Thursday as she belted her new song "Rise" and her signature "Roar" for an audience of Democratic delegates waving their glowing cellphones.

Perry urged the TV audience beyond the Democratic National Convention floor to vote and donate to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

"You'll be just as powerful as any NRA lobbyist. You'll have as much say as any billionaire, or you'll cancel out your weird cousin's vote, if you like," said Perry, who has stumped for Clinton and jokingly offered to lend new donors some of her outfits.

The star power on the final day of the convention wasn't just on the stage. "Scandal" star Tony Goldwyn, who appeared in a video and earlier spoke, watched Perry with fellow actors Sophia Bush, Connie Britton and Orlando Bloom, talk show host Chelsea Handler and TV hit maker Shonda Rhimes.

Perry followed actress Mary Steenburgen, a friend of Clinton for 38 years. She was accompanied by her husband, Ted Danson, and described her pal as a "world-class listener" who's all guts.

Clinton, she said, "loves to laugh, especially at herself." When she "gets knocked down seven times, she will get up eight," said Steenburgen, the daughter of an Arkansas train conductor.

The legendary Carole King got delegates on their feet, swaying and singing along to her classic "You've Got a Friend" as they held hands.

"Hello, Idaho," she began, a shoutout for the state where she bought a ranch years ago. "Everybody, everybody sing with me."

Accompanied by a group of backup singers, King concluded, "Hillary's got so many friends, and Bernie, too, and all of us together, yeahhhh."

Longtime Prince collaborator Sheila E. took to the drums for some upbeat Latin jazz, accompanied by her famous father, Pete Escovedo, and her brother, Peter. And 19-year-old actress Chloe Grace Moretz urged her fellow millennials not to sit out the election in November.

Across the Delaware River in Camden, New Jersey, earlier Thursday, Lady Gaga performed a jazzy version of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land," followed by Neil Young's "Old Man."

She was introduced by New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who spoke at the convention earlier in the week. He called Gaga a star who is not afraid to speak out about sexual violence and mental health.

Lenny Kravitz, who performed in the DNC hall Wednesday night, played a set at the Camden event, shouting: "We, the people. We, the people. We, the people." DJ Jazzy Jeff spun tunes between sets.

The show gave Camden, one of the country's most impoverished cities, time in the convention spotlight.

Earlier Thursday, Rhimes, who created "Grey's Anatomy," ''Scandal" and "How to Get Away with Murder," addressed the Democratic women's caucus, describing Clinton as a "badass" she knows as a person as well as a politician.

"She's a mother who talks about her kid a little too much and like us, she personally worries too much," Rhimes said, according to BuzzFeed. "She's real and human and flawed, and funny, and dorky and interesting. She's a thousand times smarter than anyone you've met, but she's just like us."

Having spent personal time with Clinton, Rhimes heartily endorsed her: "Hillary gets it done. Hillary is squad goals, people."

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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