Over 20 of entertainment’s biggest names came together to celebrate Prince’s legendary music in a star-studded tribute.
Let’s Go Crazy: The GRAMMY Salute To Prince, which was recorded back in January, aired Tuesday (April 21) night – four years to the day that the legendary singer lost his life.
Maya Rudolph, who is part of a Prince cover band name Princess, hosted the special and kicked off the GRAMMYs tribute to the music legend.
“I have difficulty putting into words my personal feelings about Prince,” Maya said. “There are words that don’t exactly cut it for me: Genius, brilliant, gifted, prolific, legendary — they’re all true. But they don’t really get right to that feeling that can only be described through his music.”
“To me, Prince is music. To love Prince is to love music,” she added.
H.E.R and Gary Clark, Jr. teamed up to give the first performance of the night – a rousing rendition of “Let’s Go Crazy.” They were also joined by Prince’s former protégée and friend, percussionist Shiela E.
Miguel followed with “I Would Die 4 U.”
John Legend later took the stage to belt out a soulful rendition of Prince’s hit “Nothing Compares 2U.”
“Prince was in every way incomparable. But in his artistry, his musicality and his ambition, he set the stage for all of us who follow,” John intro’d his performance. “Prince actually kept giving away this next song about being incomparable. He gave it away a few times to other artists, but somehow it kept coming back to him. Because as the record shows, nothing compares to Prince.”
Sheila was blown away by the performance.
“John Legend killed it, and he sang ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ and at rehearsal… He came to rehearse and he was ready to go,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “That was a song he wanted to do… When he sang it, it was the first time I cried. He made me cry at rehearsal.”
Other performances included The Foo Fighters singing “Darling Nikki,” and Coldplay’s Chris Martin and The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs teaming up for a piano version of “Manic Monday,” which Prince penned.
The star-studded line-up also featured Beck, Common, Earth, Wind, & Fire, Juanes, Morris Day and the Time, Princess, St. Vincent, Mavis Staples, the Revolution, and Usher, with special appearances by Fred Armisen, Naomi Campbell, Misty Copeland, FKA Twigs and Jimmy Jam.
Know for his hits like “Purple Rain,” “When Doves Cry,” and more, Prince won seven GRAMMYs and racked up a total of 38 nominations throughout his career, according to the Recording Academy. He passed away on April 21, 2016 at the age of 57.
