Hire Madonna for Your Party -- C'mon, It's Only $10M

Your fabulous party is practically guaranteed to be a hit if you can hire an A-list performer to make an appearance.

But, of course -- it's going to cost you.

The super-rich are no longer satiated by just having a crowd of semi-famous faces drinking their free champagne and eating their caviar-topped appetizers. Over the last few years a new war has been raging -- a war to nab the biggest stars and greatest performing acts for private soirees and glitzy bashes where money is no object.

The formula goes something like this. You are invited to a garden party that is perfectly catered, with white tablecloths, shiny silver cutlery and blooming flowers from the garden.

Everything seems perfectly ordinary -- at least until the pool is enveloped by a full gospel choir and none other than Patti LaBelle or Mariah Carey emerges from behind a well-manicured hedge to belt out one of her hits.

By the end of the 45-minute performance the place is on fire, and the hosts are basking in the glory of the most successful party ever seen. At least, until someone else in their social circle outshines them by hosting a bigger name and glitzier performance.

	Star Attraction

These gigs inevitably include a fashionable fan surrounded by incredibly wealthy, not-so-fashionable party throwers who open their checkbooks and coffers to pony-up for the lavish expenses. Usually the buyer will foot the travel expenses for talent including private planes, first-class hotel accommodations and security staff.

Hip-hop artist 50 Cent commanded a $500,000 fee for just 30 minutes of work at a private bar mitzvah in Miami Beach. Usually, an artist like him will show up just moments before taking the stage, perform the perfunctory time requested and then hastily make an exit.

"While they are more than willing to accept the money for performing," says Jim Samson, a Miami insider, "there is no amount of money you can pay them to actually socialize at the party."

The Russians are perhaps the most gregarious of the superstar party bookers.

Last year Russian billionaire Andrei Melnichenko hired Jennifer Lopez to put on a 40-minute show at his wife's 30th birthday party in the Berkshire countryside.

Melnichenko paid around £600,000 ($1.2 million) for the performance, and a further £400,000 to fly JLo's entourage from the U.S. to Britain where the party took place.

The same Russian couple paid a reported £2 million for Christina Aguilera to sing at their wedding in the south of France.

Another Russian billionaire, RusAl head Oleg Deripaska, brought in the 2008 New Year with a star-studded bash in Moscow starring hip-hop sensation Rihanna. The "Umbrella" siren was reportedly paid $500,000 for a 40-minute performance that included Russian dignitaries and business elite like Roman Abramovich.

Unlike the performance by George Michael for Vladimir Potanin last year that reportedly cost $3.3 million, Rihanna was a relative bargain.