JAY-Z may have been honored with the Grammy Salute to Industry Icons Saturday night (Jan. 27) at the Clive Davis and Recording Academy’s annual Pre-Grammy Gala at the Sheraton Times Square, but the night belonged to the ladies.
Gladys Knight, Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson gave epic performances before a room packed with such luminaries as Quincy Jones, Jerry Seinfeld, Jamie Foxx, Katie Holmes, Rob Reiner, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tina Fey, Martha Stewart Nancy Pelosi, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Sting, While Donald Trump has attended in the past, the only Trump in the room this year was his first ex-wife Ivana Trump.
All the way here for Alicia Key’s Jay-Z tribute. #CliveDavis #Grammys pic.twitter.com/3E28mM24uQ
— Patrick Ryan (@PatRyanWrites)
Highlighting the Grammys return to New York for the first time in 15 years, Knight took part in a Broadway medley that included Tony winners Ben Platt and Leslie Odom Jr. singing “Waving Through a Window” from Dear Evan Hansen and “The Room Where It Happens” from Hamilton, respectively, before Knight sang a moving version of Leiber and Stoller’s “Stand By Me” featured in Smokey Joe’s Cafe, that had the audience up and swaying.
As Davis noted, the R&B icon could not leave the stage without singing her classic, “Midnight Train to Georgia,” which turned into a room sing-a-long.To honor JAY-Z, his friend and collaborator Keys performed the evening’s highlight, an inventive piano medley reimagining several songs spanning his career, starting with “Feeling It” from his 1996 studio album debut, Reasonable Doubt, and winding through “Can’t Knock the Hustle,” “Hard Knock Life,” “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me), “Izzo (H.O.V.A.), “Encore,” “Holy Grail,” “Run This Town” and, of course, the pair’s 2009 Billboard Hot 100 chart topper, “Empire State of Mind.”
In his acceptance speech, 21-time Grammy winner JAY-Z acknowledged his rocky relationship with the Grammys, including boycotting the awards ceremony starting in 1999 after DMX wasn’t nominated in 1998. JAY-Z said, “a beautiful lady whom I love dearly” prompted his return in 2004 when Beyonce, whom he referred to as “The First Lady of Music,” was nominated for her debut solo album, Crazy in Love.
“Art is super subjective,” he continued. “The Academy, they’re human like we are and voting on things that they like,” alluding to the lack of diversity among Grammy winners — only one rap album has won album of the year. However, he stressed that…
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