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Gladys Knight

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Gladys Knight & Chloe x Halle Open Super Bowl 2019

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The seven-time GRAMMY winner sang the National Anthem, while sisters Chloe and Halle Bailey performed "America The Beautiful"
THE GRAMMYs
GRAMMYs
Feb 3, 2019 - 3:34 pm

The Empress Of Soul Gladys Knight opened Super Bowl 2019 in her hometown of Atlanta with a powerful rendition of the National Anthem.

The seven-time GRAMMY winner had previously noted that she "pray[ed] that this National Anthem will bring us all together in a way never before witnessed... and we can move forward and untangle these truths which mean so much to all of us." 

She also noted last month that, "I am here today and on Sunday, Feb. 3 to give the Anthem back its voice, to stand for that historic choice of words... the way it unites us when we hear it and to free it from the same prejudices and struggles I have fought long and hard for all my life."

Knight's statement, which was released last month upon announcing her plans to sing the Anthem, touched on the current division this year's Super Bowl and the NFL in general has had in the music community. The NFL reportedly had a tough time booking its halftime talent this year due to the controversy surrounding former 49ers backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

The Super Bowl kickoff also featured first-time GRAMMY nominees Chloe x Halle, who sang a stunning duet of "America The Beautiful."

Maroon 5 is confirmed to perform at the haltime show with special guests Big Boi and Travis Scott. 

Gladys Knight Will Sing Super Bowl National Anthem To "Bring Us All Together"
 

Gladys Knight

Gladys Knight

Photo: Robyn Beck /AFP/Getty Images

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Gladys Knight Will Sing Super Bowl National Anthem To "Bring Us All Together"

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Knight prays her performance will lift hearts to a "higher place"
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Jan 18, 2019 - 12:08 pm

On Jan. 17, the NFL and Gladys Knight announced that the iconic GRAMMY winner will sing the National Anthem on Feb. 3 in her hometown of Atlanta before the Super Bowl LIII kickoff. 

"I pray that this National Anthem will bring us all together in a way never before witnessed," she said, "and we can move forward and untangle these truths which mean so much to all of us." 

"I am here today and on Sunday, Feb. 3 to give the Anthem back its voice, to stand for that historic choice of words," Knight continued in an extensive statement, "the way it unites us when we hear it and to free it from the same prejudices and struggles I have fought long and hard for all my life."

Her position regarding the controversy that discouraged many other artists from performing at this year's Super Bowl is that the Anthem represents a "higher place" we are trying to reach, symbolizing national unity.

Knight also observed how her 1973 GRAMMY-winning hit, "Midnight Train To Georgia," helped launch her career, and how the Super Bowl is on its way to that very state. It's a personal coming-home moment for Knight that should also stand for reaffirming the meaning of the Anthem itself.

Maroon 5 was previously confirmed to perform at the haltime show with special guests Big Boi and Travis Scott. Super Bowl LIII will be broadcast on CBS on Feb. 3.

Big Boi & Travis Scott Confirmed As Special Guests For Super Bowl LIII Halftime Show

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Adam Levine of Maroon 5

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Maroon 5, Big Boi & Travis Scott Perform A Fiery 2019 Super Bowl Halftime Show

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Earlier in the day, it was announced that Maroon 5 had donated their performance fee to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
Rachel Brodsky
GRAMMYs
Feb 3, 2019 - 5:39 pm

Pop-funk titans Maroon 5 hit the Super Bowl Iiii halftime stage in Atlanta on Sunday, Feb. 3, opening with classics "Harder To Breathe" and "This Love." 

 

 

Later in the set, the multi-GRAMMY winners ran through additional hits like "Girls Like You" and "She Will Be Loved" with some help from a gospel choir. 

GRAMMY-nominated rapper Travis Scott also got in on the action. Introduced by a "SpongeBob SquarePants" clip, Scott performed his hit "SICKO MODE" on a fiery stage and, when he was through, proceeded to crowd-surf his way out.  

Atlanta native and former Outkast member Big Boi soon rolled up in a giant mink coat and performed beloved OutKast hit "The Way You Move."

Earlier in the day, it was announced that Maroon 5 had donated their performance fee to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. In a statement, Levine said, "Playing the Super Bowl has been a dream of our band for a long time. We thank the NFL for the opportunity and also to them, along with Interscope Records, for making this donation to Big Brothers Big Sisters, which will have a major impact for children across the country."

Gladys Knight & Chloe x Halle Open Super Bowl 2019

Travis Scott

Travis Scott

Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

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Big Boi & Travis Scott Confirmed As Special Guests For Super Bowl LIII Halftime Show

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Scott and Atlanta native Big Boi will join previously announced halftime performers Maroon 5 onstage on Feb. 3
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Jan 14, 2019 - 11:41 am

On Jan. 13, the NFL officially announced that current GRAMMY nominee Travis Scott and GRAMMY winner Big Boi would join GRAMMY winners Maroon 5 for the halftime show at Super Bowl LIII on Feb. 3.

Maroon 5 had been confirmed as the main halftime performer back in September and, as Billboard reports, Scott had been a rumored guest but did not confirm his place on the lineup until the NFL agreed to offer a joint donation with him to a social justice organization. Fader adds that a $500,000 total contribution was made to a "social justice accelerator" run by social entrepreneur and activist Van Jones.

Big Boi, an Atlanta native and former member of GRAMMY-winning rap super-duo Outkast, shared his excitement of performing on his home turf at the new Mercedes-Benz stadium. Shortly after the NFL's announcement yesterday he tweeted: "#SBLIII ATL let's get it!" along with a promo video for the show.

You can catch the Super Bowl LIII halftime show, along with the football game, whose teams have yet to be determined, on CBS on Feb. 3.

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Yolanda Adams

Yolanda Adams

Photo courtesy of CBS

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Here's What Went Down At "A GRAMMY Salute To The Sounds Of Change"

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Featuring performances by stars from Patti LaBelle to Andra Day to Gladys Knight, "A GRAMMY Salute To The Sounds Of Change" was a decades-spanning celebration of the songs that both reflect and alter the course of social justice history
Morgan Enos
GRAMMYs
Mar 18, 2021 - 10:01 am

When Woody Guthrie wrote "This Land is Your Land," he certainly understood he was expressing something important to the world. Ditto John Lennon with "Imagine" and Marvin Gaye with "What's Going On." But could any of them have known we'd still be singing them in 2021? That amid the racial nightmares of George Floyd's killing and the anti-Asian violence that just battered Georgia, we'd return to the well of songs from 50 or more years ago for healing? 

Welcome to "A GRAMMY Salute To The Sounds Of Change," a special that solemnly, respectfully paid homage to the songs that altered the course of social-justice history. But the event, which the hip-hop heavyweight Common hosted, didn't just focus on the great tracks of the 20th century; it filtered them through the musical luminaries of the 21st.

A mix of archival performances and COVID-safe new ones, the special succeeded in showing that our modern horrors aren't so new at all—and that throughout history, brave men and women have risen to address the changing tides of history in song. Thus, the young guard (LeAnn Rimes, Chris Stapleton and Andra Day) rubbed shoulders with the old (Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle), showing these well-worn standards still emanate transformative power.

It's no accident that Common was at the helm of "A GRAMMY Salute To The Sounds Of Change"; check out his socially conscious 1999 classic Like Water For Chocolate if you're curious about how he fits into this puzzle. (Not to mention his poignant performance of "Glory," the theme song to the 2014 film Selma, with John Legend at that year's GRAMMY Awards show.)

After the MC's dignified introduction, the night kicked off with a nocturnal version of John Lennon's "Imagine" by the pearl-covered singer Cynthia Erivo. She ended the rendition with a hair-raising vamp, surrounded by projected imagery of placards reading things like "Close The Camps" and "Unjustified War Is Criminal."

Country titan Chris Stapleton then performed Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World," showing how the old chestnut easily transmutes into a variety of American idioms. (To this point: check out Jon Batiste's melancholic version from 2018's Hollywood Africans.) 

In a tonal 180, LeAnn Rimes then performs Loretta Lynn's saucy (and at the time, unspeakably scandalous) 1975 ode to birth control, "The Pill." Her masked, punked-up backing band showed us how the tune essentially invented Bikini Kill. The womens' liberation theme continued with R&B great Patti LaBelle laying into Lesley Gore's "You Don't Own Me." 

That performance segued into even heavier territory with a version of the "Strange Fruit" by Andra Day—who recently won a Golden Globe for her performance in 2021's The U.S. vs. Billie Holiday. She crooned the anti-lynching classic in a crepuscular, green-screened forest. Showing that times tragically haven't changed in certain respects, "Strange Fruit" segued into Leon Bridges' "Sweeter," a response to George Floyd, featuring Terrace Martin on blazing saxophone.

These issues represent mere facets of human disharmony. But Marvin Gaye's intellect and imagination were keen enough to not only grasp that vastness but channel it into a song for everyone. Enter seven-time GRAMMY winner Gladys Knight, who stepped on stage to perform the immortal "What's Going On" with Sheila E. on percussion, Israel Houghton on guitar, D Smoke on keys and musical director Adam Blackstone on bass.

"Hi, Marvin!" Knight crowed at the outset. "I miss you so much. I love your music—the way you write, the way you sing, the whole thing. You touch my spirit every time you sing a song."

The specter of war was addressed with, well, "War," the Norman Whitfield tune we know from Edwin Starr's version. And after his piano-and-gospel version of his 2021 anti-Trump song "Weeping in the Promised Land"—crescendoing with a collective wail of "I can't breathe!"—John Fogerty rocked things up with Creedence Clearwater Revival's thrilling, outraged, oft-misunderstood classic "Fortunate Son."

Cutting to the essence of the other-ness that feeds racial division, CBS's Gayle King sat down with singer-actor Billy Porter to discuss the struggles of growing up gay and Black—and how music with a social conscience is returning to the forefront in 2021. 

"I'm feeling once again the energy surrounding the power of protest music," Porter said. When asked about his choice to cover Patti LaBelle's "You Are My Friend" for the show, "I just wanted to choose something that was about chosen family," he added. "We talk often in this world about family values, but what happens when your family—your biological family—don't have the tools to understand how to love you?" 

As Porter sang the empathetic ballad on a flower-festooned stage, images of people of all colors, identities and persuasions embracing—often draped in rainbow flags—flashed on the screen. "I want to talk to you a little bit about where I've been in the world!" he crowed midsong.

"A GRAMMY Salute To The Sounds Of Change" also honored and elevated Latin voices. After a brief preamble from Common about the meaning and import of the neologism "Latinx," Gloria and Emilio Estefan discussed how Latin music is woven into the fabric of American social change. Their daughter Emily Estefan then performed "This Is What," a tribute to Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic and Latina member of the Supreme Court.

Sotomayor was nominated in 2009 by then-President Barack Obama, and Brad Paisley touches on the legacies of our first Black president and first lady. From the floor of the Woolworth on 5th restaurant in Nashville, the country star performed his ascendant "Welcome to the Future," which he wrote in response to Obama's election. Paisley then strolled to the counter, explaining that the restaurant was a historic spot where John Lewis and his friends took a stand for racial justice in 1960.

The special then homed in on "We Shall Overcome," a cornerstone of the civil rights movement. Yolanda Adams laid down a reverent monologue about the tune to the haunting strains of a gospel choir. But then, something unexpected happened. The lights flared up, and Adams upshifted several gears, launching into a raucous take on the soul-strengthening classic. 

It was a joyful capper for a heartening night, conceived and broadcast for all the right reasons. But most importantly, almost every minute of "A GRAMMY Salute To The Sounds Of Change" was stuffed with music, which is usually the loam from where real change springs.

"A GRAMMY Salute To The Sounds Of Change" is available on-demand on Paramount+.

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