Vladimir Putin croons classic rock song in excruciating karaoke night footage

Vladimir Putin has taken centre stage in the arena of world affairs after giving the order for Russia to invade Ukraine, but he once took to the centre of an actual stage – and murdered a rock and roll classic.

Putin crooned Blueberry Hill, a song made famous by Fats Domino, at a star-studded charity dinner in December 2010 in excruciating footage that has resurfaced online in the wake of the invasion.

Paul Knott, a Brit diplomat who has worked in both Moscow and Kyiv, says the leader "looks like someone who's lost his mind a little bit" as he threatened western nations they face dire consequences if they get involved.

But Putin used to be more docile, once even crowdsourcing a name for a puppy gifted to him and settling on one chosen by a five-year-old boy, who was subsequently invited to the president's residence.

The same month he stood up in front of a room full of people, including American movie stars such as Kevin Costner, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, and belted out Blueberry Hill, and the video has started to re-circulate online.

Sharon Stone flashed a peace sign at the event, a children's charity dinner in Saint Petersburg.

"This will be the end credits song after WW3 ends the world," someone posted in the comments section of the original YouTube video, posted by Russian state TV channel RT.

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The macho autocrat, famous for his shirtless horseback riding, co-piloting a firefighting plane and sparring with the national judo team, showed his more artistic side as he sang the tune in accented English.

Putin took to the stage with the warning: "Like an overwhelming majority of people, I can neither sing nor play but I very much like doing it," according to Reuters.

Putin initially took a seat at the piano, carefully playing the opening notes to Blueberry Hill before taking the microphone.

The then-Prime Minister got a standing ovation for his rendition of the classic American song.

The prime minister's spokesman said Putin learned the lyrics to the song in his English class and takes music lessons when he has time, ABC reported at the time.

The song was originally written for the 1940 western The Singing Hill, a flick about an unethical rancher who is about to buy a chunk of land from rich property owner, a transaction that would effectively run scores of local cattle traders out of business.

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