Grammys to Honor Beatles

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Dave Matthews, Sting, the Neptunes' Pharrell Williams and country star Vince Gill will take part in a musical celebration marking the fortieth anniversary of the Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show at the Grammy Awards show on Sunday night. All four performers are Grammy nominees this year.

In addition to the Fab Four tribute, singer-songwriter Warren Zevon, who died last year of cancer, will be honored. Emmylou Harris, Dwight Yoakam, Jackson Browne, the Eagles Timothy B. Schmit, Billy Bob Thornton and Zevon's songwriting collaborator Jorge Calderon will perform. Zevon is nominated for five awards including Song of the Year for "Keep Me in Your Heart."

Prince, whose N.E.W.S. is nominated for Best Pop Instrumental Album, has also been added to the lineup, joining previously announced performers including Alicia Keys, OutKast, 50 Cent, the White Stripes and the Foo Fighters.

The forty-sixth annual Grammy Awards will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Television coverage begins at 8 p.m. (ET) on CBS.

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Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

More Song Stories entries »

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