by Latrisha McDuffie
The world of music had to walk into the spotlight missing on of its greatest stars; Whitney Houston. The ceremony managed to graciously celebrate great music and mourn the loss of one of the greatest voices of all time. The show began with its first host in seven years, LL Cool J appearing in black, leading the audience in prayer “Heavenly father, we thank you for sharing our sister Whitney with us. Though she is gone too soon, we remain truly blessed to have been touched by her beautiful spirit.”
On stage alone accompanied by only a piano, Jennifer Hudson, beautiful in black, sang one of Houston’s most memorable songs “I Will Always Love You”. Fighting back her emotions Hudson ended the song with the line “Whitney, we will always love you.”
Adele, gave a powerful performance of her hit “Rolling in the Deep” after vocal cord surgery proving that she still has it. “I can’t believe I’m getting emotional already,” she said after picking up one of her six Grammy’s. “And seeing as it’s a vocal performance, I need to thank my doctors, I suppose, who brought my voice back.”
The evening’s performances also included the return of bad boy Chris Brown on the Grammy stage for the first time since 2009. Brown, who did more dancing than singing, won best R&B Album.
The Grammy’s struggled to keep the mood light with all of the emotional moments. Glen Cambell, who disclosed that he had Alzheimer’s disease performed with The Band Perry and Blake Shelton his classic hit “Rhinestone Cowboy” to a standing ovation. Bonnie Raitt and Alicia Keys paid tribute to Etta James who passed away in January.
