Stevie Wonder Tribute to Air Week After Grammys
UPDATE: A press release from the Recording Academy has confirmed that the Band Perry, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga and John Legend will join previously announced performers Ed Sheeran, Usher, Chris Martin, Willie Nelson and Janelle Monáe at the tribute concert. LL Cool J will host.
Stevie Wonder will be the focus of a televised tribute concert that will air one week after the Grammy Awards next year. Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life – An All-Star Grammy Salute will feature what the Recording Academy has billed as “some of the biggest names in music today” performing songs that the soul legend popularized over the past half a century.
The two-hour show will tape two days after the Grammys in Los Angeles and will air on CBS on Monday, February 16th, from 9 to 11 p.m. EST. The event’s organizers will announce the talent who will honor Wonder soon, but it’s safe to assume that, like this year’s Grammy tribute show The Beatles: The Night That Changed America, the performers and presenters will include many who appeared at the awards show. Tickets to the show will be available on December 18th, via AXS.
The Recording Academy has honored the singer 25 times over the course of his career, including Producer of the Year in 1976 and multiple Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best Pop Vocal Performance awards. Wonder is also the only artist to have received the Album of the Year trophy in three out of four consecutive years, for Innervisions (1973), Fullingness’ First Finale (1974) and Songs in the Key of Life (1976).
Wonder, who performed the entirety of Songs in the Key of Life on tour earlier this year, was also honored this year at the ASCAP Centennial Awards, where he spoke about the power of song. After encouraging the songwriters in attendance at the New York gala, held by an organization that handles songwriters’ rights, he encouraged his peers to use their skills for positivity. “All of us here, let’s continue to write,” he said. “Let’s continue to encourage and inspire, because without writing, the world will lose its magic because the world will lose its love.”