LOS ANGELES • Actor Johnny Depp and musician Alice Cooper joined Aerosmith at a gala dinner and performance in Los Angeles to celebrate the band's 50-year career as one of the best-selling American hard rock bands of all times.

Cooper and Depp - who play with Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry in rock supergroup Hollywood Vampires - were among more than a dozen artists, including Foo Fighters, Sammy Hagar and John Legend, who sang the band's biggest hits as they were named the MusiCares Person of the Year.

Organised by the Recording Academy, the annual MusiCares event raised about US$6 million (S$8 million) last Friday for health services to members of the music industry. Aerosmith also performed at the Grammys on Sunday.

Hosted by British comedian Russell Brand, the night was marked by jokes about the band's drug-fuelled past and the advancing age of frontman Steven Tyler, Perry, and guitarists Brad Whitford and Tom Hamilton.

"It's a miracle he's still alive," Brand said of Tyler, 71, calling him "the sexiest septuagenarian in history".

Aerosmith, formed in 1970 in Boston, rose to fame when the band broke through as the United States' answer to English band The Rolling Stones with its fusion of hard rock and blues.

Tyler and Perry quickly earned the nickname "the Toxic Twins" due to their heavy use of drugs, a moniker cemented later in the band's career by their numerous feuds and multiple trips to rehabilitation.

Internal conflicts boiled over in 2009 after Tyler fell off the stage and his band mates threatened to hire a new singer to replace him.

"Should I, which I won't, fall again, y'all might help me back up again, and I love you so much for that," Tyler told the audience, praising the work of MusiCares.

Feuding flared again last week when drummer Joey Kramer lost a legal bid to play at the dinner after a period out due to injury last year.

Kramer did, however, join his band mates on stage as they accepted their MusiCares awards, which also recognised Tyler's Janie's Fund charity for abused and neglected girls.

Last Friday, R&B singer Legend got a standing ovation for his version of power ballad I Don't Want To Miss A Thing, while pop star Kesha gave an emotional rendition of the band's song about child abuse, Janie's Got A Gun.

Country singer LeAnn Rimes showed off her inner rock star on Livin' On The Edge, while boy band Jonas Brothers took on Crazy.

Previous MusiCares Person of the Year recipients include Dolly Parton, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Carole King and Elton John.

REUTERS