Grammy moments of all time, memory lane of incredible performances
Known as music’s biggest night, the Grammy Awards always deliver incredible performances and career-making wins.
Elton John and Eminem stand united after their performance at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards on February 21, 2001.Hector Mata/Getty Images
The 66th Grammy Awards will take place on Sunday, February 4.
We’re looking back on the most surprising and iconic moments from the show throughout its history.
There have been several shocking wins, crashed acceptance speeches, and impromptu performances.
Occasionally, the award show goes rogue with crashed acceptance speeches, impromptu performances, and technical difficulties.
Here are 26 jaw-dropping moments from the Grammy Awards through the years.
Long before Ariana Grande sang “God Is a Woman,” Helen Reddy made that proclamation during her 1973 acceptance speech.
Australian singer Reddy won best female pop vocal performance for her song “I Am Woman” in 1973. The artist and her anthem were symbols of the women’s liberation movement at the time.During her brief acceptance speech, Reddy said, “I would like to thank Jeff Wald, because he makes my success possible, and I would like to thank God because She makes everything possible.”This feminist statement didn’t go over well with the conservative audience — NPR called it “an audacious move.” However, at a time when women’s rights issues were being discussed — the Equal Rights Amendment passed the Senate in 1972 — it was an impactful statement.”It really resonated for a lot of people,” Nadine Hubbs, a professor of musicology at the University of Michigan, told NPR in 2018. “She was putting into words some really important social changes that were going on at the moment.”
There was a tie for song of the year between legend Barbra Streisand and newcomer Debby Boone in 1978.
At the 20th Grammy Awards, there was a tie for song of the year — it was the first time this happened in this category. Streisand and Paul Williams won for “Evergreen,” the theme from her version of “A Star is Born,” while Boone’s song “You Light Up My Life,” from the movie of the same name, also won.However, as song of the year goes to the songwriter, not the performer, songwriter Joe Brooks accepted the award instead of Boone.That night, Streisand also won for best female pop vocal performance and Boone took home the award for best new artist.
Annie Lennox fooled show producers and the audience while dressed in drag in 1984.
Set to perform “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” the show’s production staff were panicking because they couldn’t find Lennox … because the singer was unrecognizable while dressed in drag.”People were unaware that it was me, so it was almost like being a fly on the wall for a while,” Lennox told CTV News in 2009.After Lennox took to the stage, staff and audience were first confused who the “man” was, as she was also singing in a deeper, lower register than normal, and she happened to be rocking mutton chops.This was radical for the ’80s. Lennox told CTV that she was responding to the whispers surrounding her sexuality and androgynous style.
In a true upset, rock/jazz band Jethro Tull beat Metallica for the Grammy’s first award for best hard rock or heavy metal performance in 1987.
In 1989, the Grammys added an award for best hard rock or heavy metal performance. Pitted against AC/DC, Iggy Pop, Jane’s Addiction, and the favorites to win, Metallica, the rock-and-jazz old-timers Jethro Tull surprisingly won for “Crest of a Knave.”Presenters Alice Cooper and Lita Ford seemed just as shocked as the half-clapping audience. The pair accepted the award on the group’s behalf.In an interview, Metallica’s drummer, Lars Ulrich, said the band was prepared to lose due to their lack of name recognition from older voters at the time, and he recounted that the president of the Recording Academy actually apologized for Jethro Tull’s win.
In 1994, Frank Sinatra’s acceptance speech was cut off early, so Billy Joel paused his performance to purposely waste time.
At the 36th Grammys, Sinatra was honored with the legend award. After presenter Bono’s 4-minute introduction, Sinatra gave an emotional, comical, and slightly displeased 4-minute acceptance speech. At that point, music started playing the singer off, upsetting Sinatra and the audience.In response, in the middle of performing “The River of Dreams,” Joel, his musicians, and a choir abruptly stopped. Joel held up his wrist to read his watch and comically said, “valuable advertising time going by.” After pausing for 20 seconds, the upbeat performance started up again.
Performance artist “Soy Bomb Guy” crashed Bob Dylan’s set to make a statement in 1998.
Midway through Dylan’s low-key performance of “Love Sick” in 1998, one of his backup dancers ran up shirtless with the words “SOY BOMB” painted on his chest. As he danced energetically next to Dylan, the singer looked around, confused, but continued his performance stone-faced. The man was then taken off stage.It was revealed that the “Soy Bomb Guy” was actually respected performance artist Michael Portnoy. He later revealed, “Soy represents dense nutritional life. Bomb is, obviously, an explosive destructive force. So, ‘soy bomb’ is what I think art should be: dense, transformational, explosive life,” as per Yahoo in 2012.
After Luciano Pavarotti called out sick, Aretha Franklin gave an impromptu performance of his iconic song “Nessun Dorma” in Italian, also at the 1998 ceremony.
Again at the 1998 Grammys, The Queen of Soul stepped in for a surprise performance (to the audience and production crew) of “Nessun Dorma.”While the show was airing, producer Ken Ehrlich was told that opera singer Pavarotti who was set to perform would not be coming because, in Pavarotti’s words, “my voice is bad,” Ehlrich told Billboard in 2018.Panicking, he asked Franklin — who had already sung earlier in the ceremony — if she could fill in and sing Pavarotti’s song, since she sang it at a prior event honoring the opera legend.”Aretha’s performance was such a moment. I don’t want to say it dwarfed the rest of the show, but it was epic,” Ehlrich said.
The 1998 Grammys again proved shocking when Wu-Tang Clan rapper ODB crashed an acceptance speech for an award the group wasn’t even nominated for.
Before Shawn Colvin could grab her award for song of the year for “Sunny Came Home,” she was upstaged by Wu-Tang Clan rapper ODB.Ranting about his expensive outfit and his group’s support for children, ODB expressed that he thought Wu-Tang was going to win, saying, “Puffy is good, but Wu-Tang is the best.”The most confusing part was the timing, though. Sean “Puffy” Combs and Wu-Tang were nominated earlier in the night in an un-televised, separate category from Colvin: best rap album.
Jennifer Lopez showed up to the 2000 Grammys in a daring dress that changed history, and the internet, for good.
In 2000, the plunging Versace dress became so popular that it sparked the creation of Google Images, according to Vogue UK. Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, confirmed that people kept searching for photos of the dress immediately after the award show, so the company decided to create an image search engine.”The dress went viral before viral was a thing,” CNN wrote in 2020 after the musician wore an updated version of the dress at a Versace fashion show.In addition to creating Google Images, Lopez was also nominated for her first Grammy that night.
Despite Eminem’s homophobic lyrics, Elton John teamed up with the rapper for a surprising performance and embrace in 2001.
One of the most controversial artists of the early 2000s was Eminem. His album “The Marshall Mathers LP” was both praised for its artistry and criticized for its homophobic lyrics. After it was leaked that Eminem would perform a duet with gay icon John at the Grammys, members of LGBTQ advocacy groups like GLAAD were horrified.During the performance, Eminem was rapping his song “Stan” before a spotlight in the background showed John playing piano and singing the chorus, traditionally sung by Dido.At the end of the performance, the two embraced, held hands, and hugged in a memorable moment.
50 Cent briefly crashed Evanescence’s acceptance speech for best new artist after he lost in 2004.
As Evanescence took the stage at the 46th Grammy Awards to accept their award for best new artist, a brief altercation took place.Lead singer Amy Lee was heard saying, “Oh, what did I do? This is my first time!” before 50 Cent walked on to the stage and between the band members before walking right off.Evanescence laughed it off and Lee jokingly thanked 50 Cent in her speech. The rapper was also nominated for best new artist, but lost to the rock group.
For the first time since completing chemotherapy to treat her breast cancer, Melissa Etheridge performed on the 2005 Grammys stage totally bald.
In her first performance since taking a break from working and doing chemotherapy to combat breast cancer, Etheridge took the stage in 2005 for a tribute to Janis Joplin.Met with roaring applause, Etheridge stepped out with no hair and gave an exceptional and passionate performance of “Piece of My Heart” with singer Joss Stone.Looking back on it in 2014, Etheridge told Entertainment Weekly, “I wanted to show people that I’ve been through hell, yeah. This is awful, but I am not dying. I wanted to present myself as, ‘I’m back, I’m not weak, this has made me stronger.'”
After Chris Brown assaulted Rihanna after a pre-Grammys party in 2009, the two withdrew from performing, and other entertainers took their spots.
At Clive Davis’ pre-Grammys party the day prior to the show in 2009, Rihanna and then-boyfriend Brown were all smiles. But afterwards, the couple had an altercation and Brown physically assaulted Rihanna. The next day, Brown was arrested and Rihanna, who had a photo of her battered face leaked online, was hospitalized. Both were set to perform separately at the Grammys, but, understandably, were forced to pull out.Hours before the show aired, a last-minute performance from U2 and duet between Justin Timberlake and Al Green were planned.
Pregnant rapper M.I.A. gave an amazing performance on her due date in 2009.
M.I.A. performed while very pregnant at the Grammys with Jay-Z, Kanye West, T.I., and Lil Wayne. In fact, it was later revealed that the event was on her actual due date and that she started having contractions while it was airing, according to a 2009 MTV report.Singing her hit “Paper Planes” while her singing partners sang “Swagga Like Us,” M.I.A. made it through a successful performance. She gave birth to her son three days later.
Pink shocked the world with her aerial skills and performance at the 2010 Grammys.
Four months after her first dramatic aerial act on the VMAs stage, Pink performed “Glitter in the Air” at the Grammys. After taking off her dress to reveal a sheer bodysuit, she was lifted into the air on silks.While Pink had cables and a partner supporting her in her previous performance, this time she was solely held up by fabric and her own core strength. Dipped into a pool of water, she quickly twirled around while somehow effortlessly belting out notes.
In 2011, Lady Gaga proved how dedicated to her craft she is when she was carried into the awards in a giant egg, only emerging during her performance.
In true Lady Gaga fashion, she showed her unique artistry at the Grammys red carpet by arriving in an oversized egg carried on the shoulders of latex-clad performers.She came out of the egg during her debut performance of “Born This Way.” With jagged prosthetics on her face, she looked more alien than human.After taking home three golden gramophones that night, she was interviewed by Jay Leno the next day. Gaga told Leno that she was in the “temperature-controlled vessel” for three days prior to the Grammys.
After Whitney Houston died the day before the Grammys in 2012, Jennifer Hudson sang an emotional tribute to the legend.
Prior to Clive Davis’ 2012 pre-Grammy party where Houston was expected to perform, the singer was found dead in her hotel room. With this sudden and tragic loss, the world and music community was in mourning.In a last-minute performance at the Grammys, powerhouse vocalist Hudson paid tribute to Houston, singing “I Will Always Love You,” giving a pitch-perfect performance. At the end, she sang, “Whitney, we love you.” She received an emotional standing ovation.
Nicki Minaj was called sacrilegious when she was escorted on the red carpet by a fake Catholic bishop and later performed an “exorcism” during the 2012 show.
Minaj walked the Grammys red carpet accompanied by a faux priest and wearing a devilish outfit with Versace’s Medusa emblem on it.Then, taking the stage to perform “Roman Holiday,” Minaj started off next to the priest in a confessional setup. The screen then cut to the words “The Exorcism of Roman” and a short horror film of the priest meeting with a deranged Minaj.During her theatrical performance on the stage, the singer reenacted an exorcism. Hooked up to cables, she laid horizontally and even began levitating.This upset the Catholic League, who heaped criticism on the singer and the Recording Academy.”I don’t know what is the big issue?” Minaj said at an event a few days later. She added that it was part of a movie she was writing, the Associated Press reported.
Queen Latifah surprised everyone by officiating 33 marriages onstage while Macklemore performed “Same Love” in 2014.
In 2014, Queen Latifah introduced Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ performance of their same-sex anthem “Same Love,” saying, “This song is a love song, not for some of us, but for all of us.”Towards the end of the song, Latifah stepped back onstage and the audience erupted in cheers as they realized what was happening — 33 gay and straight couples were lined up in the aisles, ready to get married. Latifah served as an ordained minister and the couples exchanged rings.As Latifah pronounced them married, a second wave of shock came when Madonna came out. She sang “Open Your Heart,” accompanied by a choir and marching band.
After Kanye West crashed Taylor Swift’s VMA acceptance speech in 2009, he did the same to Beck in 2015, once again because of Beyonc’s loss.
After West infamously crashed Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 VMAs, declaring that it belonged to Beyonc instead, he nearly did the same in 2015.In an upset, Beck beat Beyonc for album of the year. When he took the stage, West did too, approaching the microphone, but quickly turning away. Beck waved for him to come back, but the rapper was already sitting and laughing with the rest of the audience.While seemingly joking during the ceremony, during a televised interview with E! afterward, West said, “Beck needs to respect artistry, and he should’ve given his award to Beyonc.”
Photo Adele sang
Adele sang off-key and off-time before her microphone cut out in a technical-difficulty disaster in 2016.
A much-anticipated performance by Adele was turned sour by several audio issues. As she started singing “All I Ask,” the song immediately sounded off with a clattering triangle sound. Adele was thrown off and sang off-key before her microphone cut out briefly. Although Adele powered through, the distractions kept her out of tune. Afterward, the singer tweeted, “The piano mics fell on the piano strings, that’s what the guitar sound was.”
Cardi B and Offset, who were thought to be broken up, made a surprising display of affection on the red carpet in 2019.
Although Cardi B had recently announced her separation from Offset, the two appeared at the 2019 Grammys looking as intimate as ever. The two touched tongues on the red carpet, which came as a complete surprise to viewers who thought they were broken up.Further confirming that they had resumed their relationship, Offset joined Cardi B on stage as she gave her acceptance speech when her album, “Invasion of Privacy,” won best rap album.
Photo Alicia
Alicia Keys played two pianos simultaneously at the 2019 Grammys, and the audience went wild.
To the audience’s surprise, Alicia Keys played two pianos at the same time during the 61st annual Grammy Awards in 2019. Her medley, which she titled, “Songs I Wish I Wrote,” included crowd-pleasers such as “Lucid Dreams” by Juice WRLD’, “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon, and “Doo-Wop (That Thing)” by Lauryn Hill. “I’ve always wanted to play two pianos,” she said before beginning her performance.
In their first performance since overdosing in 2018, Demi Lovato had to restart their emotional performance at the 2020 ceremony.
At the 62nd Grammy Awards, Lovato took to the stage for the first time since overdosing in July 2018. They performed “Anyone” — a song that calls out for help — which was written before their overdose and was released the same day as the Grammys.Overly emotional, Lovato’s voice cracked through the first line of the song before they had to pause. Receiving supportive applause, the singer restarted. They belted out a powerful performance, cementing their triumphant comeback.
In 2022, Doja Cat almost missed her chance to accept her award for best pop duo with SZA because she was using the restroom.
Doja Cat was using the bathroom when it was announced that she and fellow pop artist SZA had won best pop duo for their song, “Kiss Me More.” When she made it onto the stage, Doja Cat was out of breath. She said she’d never used the bathroom so quickly “in my whole life.””Thank you, everybody,” she continued, while adjusting her dress, “I really appreciate it.”
In 2023, Harry Styles was criticized for his “As It Was” performance and his acceptance speech for album of the year.
Styles’ two Grammy wins in 2023 were not without controversy.While singing “As It Was,” Styles appeared to trip and almost fall over on the stage’s moving turnstile, and some fans pointed out that it wasn’t his strongest vocal performance. Several of his dancers later posted on social media that the turnstile malfunctioned and started spinning in the wrong direction, forcing them to perform the choreography backwards.Later in the show, as Styles accepted the album of the year award for “Harry’s House,” he said, “This doesn’t happen to people like me very often,” even though he was the 33rd white man to win the award. The comment attracted online criticism, especially because he won over Beyonc, who has been nominated for album of the year four times but never won.
Credit: Insider
