Grammys In Memoriam 2023: Christine McVie, Loretta Lynn, Takeoff & More Touching Tributes (VIDEO)
Mick Fleetwood, Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, and more artists joined together to pay a touching musical tribute to music legends we lost this past year during the 2023 Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 5, on CBS. The late Christine McVie, Olivia Newton-John, Loretta Lynn, Takeoff, and more artists were memorialized in the 2023 Grammys In Memoriam performance.
The performance began with Kacey Musgraves singing Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” as names and photos of dearly departed musicians were displayed on the screen. Musgraves played on Lynn’s own guitar while paying tribute to the country music icon.
Guitarist Jeff Beck was also honored, along with Earth, Wind & Fire drummer Fred White, Stephen “tWitch” Boss, David Crosby, and more. Quavo took to the stage to perform a tribute to Takeoff with his song “Without You,” written in honor of his belated Migos member (the third member, Offset, was also present at the ceremony).
Fleetwood, Crow, and Raitt performed “Songbird” in honor of McVie, one of her most famous tunes. Fleetwood and McVie’s longtime Fleetwood Mac members Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were not part of the performance.
“The song is like a prayer, ‘Songbird.’ Christine would invariably do it alone on piano,” Fleetwood said on the Grammys red carpet earlier in the evening. “Sheryl Crow and Bonnie Raitt are both the songbirds of the evening.”
“It’s my prideful moment to be there on behalf of us in Fleetwood Mac,” he continued, adding that this was his moment to send McVie off in “a prideful way,” as it undoubtedly was for the rest of the In Memoriam performers as well.
Check out videos of the moving moments below.
Thank goodness for Kacey Musgraves
& her peaceful voice / quiet guitar playing pic.twitter.com/3NH9FpfXhI— seablisscuit (@seablisscuit) February 6, 2023
Quavo Performing “Without You” At The Grammys💔
RIP Takeoff 🕊️🚀pic.twitter.com/FyklTggsWV
— Rap301 (@Rap301_) February 6, 2023
A beautiful tribute to the Songbird herself, Christine McVie and so many others who left us in the last year at the @RecordingAcad 😞#GRAMMYs @fleetwoodmac pic.twitter.com/N4GDBv4epz
— John Downs (@gradyryan1) February 6, 2023
Other performances from the night included numbers from Album of the Year nominees Lizzo, Brandi Carlile, Bad Bunny (who opened up the event), Harry Styles, and more. Stevie Wonder gave a special performance for Berry Gordy with Smokey Robinson and Chris Stapleton.