Gorbachev Sings

True.

Long story short: It's his live rendition (above) last week of "Old Letters," one of seven ballads on a CD he made for charity whose single copy brought $165,000 at a private gala auction for the benefit of the Raisa Gorbachev Foundation.

Here's Al Kamen's story from yesterday's Washington Post.

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Gorbachev Frees the Top-Dollar Songs in His Heart

Step aside, Paul McCartney. Move over, Alicia Keys. And The Jonas who? The latest megastar on the music scene -- and surely the only one who gets $165,000 (per CD!) -- is Mikhail Gorbachev, former leader of the Soviet Union.

"Songs for Raisa," dedicated to his late wife, sold for that sum at a private gala auction in London a couple of weeks ago for the benefit of the Raisa Gorbachev Foundation, the British newspaper the Guardian reported Monday. Raisa Gorbachev died 10 years ago.

"There are seven ballads, which Raisa Maksimovna [Gorbachev] loved," her widower said at a news conference last week, according to Pravda. He added, "I performed them myself, with Andrey Makarevich accompanying me." Pravda noted that Makarevich, a major star in Russia, "is the front man of Russia's legendary Mashina Vremeni (Time Machine) rock band."

The CD was bought by an "anonymous British philanthropist," who paid that enormous sum for the only copy that is said to exist. Gorby himself, however, gave the crowd a sampling, apparently bringing down the house with his rendition of a song called "Old Letters." It's really not bad at all. Take a listen and remember, this is live. If the foundation, which is dedicated to fighting childhood cancer, needs cash, there's always the possibility of releasing a cut or two every now and again. Then the worldwide tour . . . film rights . . . T-shirts . . .