Grammys 2017: In Memoriam honors Leonard Cohen, Merle Haggard, Debbie Reynolds
While the Grammys did choose to do two lengthy tributes to artists in Prince and George Michael who we lost over the course of the past year, they also did choose to have a really powerful “In Memoriam” piece featuring the wonderful classic “God Only Knows.” This is one of those songs that is really powerful when slowed down, even if you do know it as an uptempo track as performed by the Beach Boys.
After this performance, we then did transition into a montage where we saw many important names and faces who have left us in the past year.
Some of the names honored tonight included Leonard Cohen, Prince, Sharon Jones, Wayne Jackson, Rod Temperton, Ralph Stanley, Merle Haggard, Sonny James, Scotty Moore, Joey Feek, Bobby Vee, Lonnie Mack, Butch Trucks, Juan Gabriel, Mose Allison, George Michael, Debbie Reynolds, Guy Clark, Milt Okun, Joe Ligon, Billy Paul, Pete Fountain, Frank Sinatra Jr., Phife Dawg, Muhammad Ali, Leon Russell, Bill Ham, Phil Chess, Bob Kransnow, Chris Stone, and Sir George Martin.
Overall, this was a pretty powerful segment, though of course we know that there are going to be plenty of people out there who will feel like one name or another was left off of the list. (We couldn’t even get all of the names written down in this article.) This just happens when you have so many people to try to honor over the course of a single year, and we’re coming off of such an emotional year in 2016 where we unfortunately lost so many.
We did think for a moment that the show forgot to include David Bowie in particular, but we looked it up — he passed on January 10 of last year, so there was an opportunity for him to be honored at least year’s ceremony. The same goes for Glenn Frey, for those wondering.
In general, we do like how the show chooses to do this segment, especially when it comes to recognizing musicians, producers, and other key people who make the industry what it is.
Feel free to share your thoughts on this year’s In Memoriam segment below, and you can head over here in the event you want to get some more news now when it comes to the Grammys. (Photo: Grammys.)