The Late Movies: Fantastic Music Collaborations

Last week on The Colbert Report, noted folk / alt-rocker Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco fame) played a track with legendary soul singer Mavis Stapes.  This performance inspired me to put together a list of other famous artists who have collaborated together.  Some are pure awesome.  Some not so much.  I know I've missed a ton...leave your favorites in the comments.

Here are Jeff Tweedy and Mavis Staples with "You're Not Alone."

Next, here are Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder teaming in the deliciously 80's video for "Ebony & Ivory."

In 2001, Eminem and Elton John performed the song "Stan" at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.  This came in the wake of several accusations that Eminem's lyrics were homophobic and the collaboration was met with mixed reviews.

Here, former frontman of Toad The Wet Sprocket, Glen Phillips, is paired with the mandolin player from Nickel Creek, Chris Thile, to perform the song "Windmills."  For a short time, Phillips toured with all three members of Nickel Creek under the name Mutual Admiration Society.  Thile has since left to do other projects, but Phillips and the remaining Nickel Creek members (siblings Sean & Sara Watkins) currently make up Works Progress Administration.

LANGUAGE WARNING: A little bit of a longer clip, here is Phish bringing rapper Jay-Z on stage to sing "99 Problems" and "Big Pimpin'."

One of the oddest collaborations is this pairing of country legend Kenny Rogers and former Haitian presidential hopeful Wyclef Jean doing a remix of Rogers' "The Gambler."

In 2005, musician Ben Folds found a natural pairing with the Western Australia Symphony Orchestra (WASO).  Here, they perform "Narcolepsy."

Sadly, I couldn't find the video for this final one, but I have the audio: Ozzy Osbourne and Miss Piggy teaming up on "Born To Be Wild."