HILLARY Clinton has been received enthusiastically by audiences across America during her long Presidential campaign, but for sheer adulation her reception in Cleveland, Ohio, last Friday takes some beating.

The sustained applause and screaming that greeted her appearance at her Get-Out-the-Vote rally probably owed at least something to the fact that she just had been introduced - “the next President of the United States!” by none other than rap star Jay Z.

Mr Z, who seconds earlier had described Donald Trump’s conversation as “divisive”, performed at the rally, as did his wife, Beyoncé. They join a long line of celebrities who have have lent their appeal to Hillary: Katy Perry performed at a rally in Philadelphia on Saturday night; Stevie Wonder in Florida, on Sunday; and Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi last night, at the final rally, in Philadelphia.

Mr Trump - observing, perhaps a little sourly, this firmament of stars aligned in his rival’s favour - believes Mrs Clinton’s use of musicians and other celebrities to be “demeaning to the political process,” thus proving once again that, whatever his other talents, The Donald simply does not do irony.

Hillary is not even the first Clinton to have sprinkled a White House campaign in celebrity sparkle dust. Back in 1992, her husband Bill adopted Fleetwood Mac’s hit, Don’t Stop, as his theme song, and when he staged his inaugural gala in January 1993, the band came out of retirement to play.

The Mashable website has put together a handy list of the musicians who have played at inaugural galas and celebrations over the years: a distinguished roll-call that manages to combine Ethel Merman, Jessye Norman, Aretha Franklin and Kelly Clarkson.

Frank Sinatra was an early celebrity adopter of the Democratic cause, campaigning for Harry Truman and Adlai Stevenson. In 1960 he campaigned for JFK and recorded his song “High Hopes” as the campaign song, and then, together with Peter Lawford, organised the inaugural gala for Kennedy.

According to some accounts, it seems that Sinatra’s drift towards the Republicans began when JFK snubbed him in 1962. In his book on the singer, author Jean-Pierre Hombach says the President was due to stay with Sinatra in Palm Springs but opted instead to stay with Bing Crosby, a rival singer and a Republican, “because of Sinatra’s alleged connections to organized crime.”

Some later candidates have managed to come unstuck on the relatively uncontroversial issue of warm-up music at rallies. This year alone, Adele, Elton John and the Rolling Stones have all taken umbrage at their music being used at Trump events. Jackson Browne was not amused when John McCain borrowed one of his songs in 2008. Bruce Springsteen, ditto, when Born in the USA became a feature of Ronald Reagan’s re-election campaign in 1984.

All of which leads to the question, Who would perform at Trump’s inaugural rally in January? Call it a hunch, but it’s difficult to imagine Jay Z, or Beyoncé, being invited to take part.