Former US president Bill Clinton won an unusual new honour to put among his political trophies -- one of music's highest awards, a Grammy.
But the former leader of the free world did not win the coveted gong for his prowess on his beloved saxophone but for lending his voice to the Russian folk tale of "Peter and the Wolf."
He shared the Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for Children with another former world leader, ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, and actress Sophia Loren.
Mr Gorbachev narrates the introduction and the epilogue to the story. Sophia Loren tells the classic tale to Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev's score. And a new composition by Jean-Pascal Beintus, re-telling the story from the wolf's perspective, is narrated by Mr Clinton.
The recording of the classic and musical tale was made to honour the 50th anniversary of the death of Sergei Prokofiev.
The narrators, who did not take part in the awards ceremony, are donating their fees to charity. Mr Clinton is donating his fee to the International Aids Trust. Mr Gorbachev will donate the money he earns for his performance to Green Cross International - the environmental organisation he founded in 1993. Ms Loren has chosen the Magic of Music, a Russian National Orchestra arts therapy programme for young people.
But the news was not so good for his wife, former US first lady and now Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who had also been nominated for a Best Spoken Word Grammy for the reading of her autobiography "Living History."
Senator Clinton, who won her own Grammy in 1996 for her reading of the book "It Takes a Village," lost out to liberal social commentator Al Franken who won the award for Best Spoken Word Album for "Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair And Balanced Look At The Right."
(Agencies)