Like many who tuned in to last night’s Grammy Awards, the family of the late Natalie Cole have voiced their frustration at the lack of tribute to the singer (who died on December 31st).
David Bowie, Glenn Frey, Motörhead’s Lemmy and Earth, Wind & Fire’s Maurice White were honored with performances, yet Cole was confined to the pre-packaged ‘In Memoriam’ segment.
Displeased, the songbird’s sister Timolin Cole said the following to Page Six…
“It’s very bittersweet. We were hoping that there will be some sort of actual tribute to her fitting of her artistry and stature. She had 21 Grammy nominations and nine wins. She was such a force in the music industry and she transcended genres . . . I think she should be recognized for the impact she has had.
Why wouldn’t you have a medley of two or three songs? There are many hits that could be sung and great artists who could perform them.” {Source}
Death is such tricky terrain. On the one hand, Cole’s achievements – specifically her Grammy accolades – are too plentiful to ignore.
Yet, on the other, the reality is that there is an allocated amount of time for tributes – as such it’s inevitable that some names would take priority over others.
We’re by no means agreeing that Natalie should have omitted, though. Rather, we’re highlighting the issues producers face when tasked with quantifying someone’s impact over others.
To keep it 100, many of last night performances were so pointless that they should have cooked up an impromptu tribute featuring some of the many amazing talents relegated to sitting in the audience (such as Jazmine Sullivan).
Sigh.