“A Death In The Family” documentary premiered

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From A Death In The Family Reveals How The GRAMMY Show Went On | GRAMMY.com, December 2, 2014:

Going behind the scenes at the GRAMMY Awards is a fascinating subject in any year, but for this year’s 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards, it’s particularly compelling.

Music fans are able to get an intimate glimpse of the fascinating story of the 54th GRAMMY Awards through the lens of A Death In The Family: The Show Must Go On. The short documentary features interviews with GRAMMY-winning artists Dave Grohl, Jennifer Hudson, Bruce Springsteen, and Joe Walsh and includes never-before-seen rehearsal footage.

With the death of Whitney Houston 24 hours before the 54th GRAMMY telecast, the show needed to address many changes. From host LL Cool J’s opening prayer and Hudson’s unannounced performance of Houston’s GRAMMY-winning classic “I Will Always Love You” to Paul McCartney’s all-star lineup and the last-minute decision to end the show with the closing medley from the Beatles’ historic album Abbey Road — these changes demonstrate what the annual GRAMMY Awards does best: deliver a critically acclaimed live telecast despite unexpected circumstances and challenges

A Death In The Family: The Show Must Go On was premiered at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood, Calif., on June 11. A panel discussion featured LL Cool J, Grohl, Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow, and GRAMMY telecast executive producer Ken Ehrlich, director Louis J. Horvitz, co-producer Terry Lickona, talent producer Chantel Sausedo, and writer David Wild.

From Paul McCartney’s Grammy Jam Chronicled in ‘A Death in the Family: The Show Must Go On’ Documentary (ultimateclassicrock.com):

The 54th Annual Grammy Awards were one of the more trying events to pull together in the history of the ceremony, and a new documentary is chronicling how it all came together.

While the early portion of the ‘A Death in the Family: The Show Must Go On’ documentary discusses how the death of Whitney Houston just prior to this year’s event led to a lot of last minute changes, there were also performances that came together rather quickly as well. One of those was Paul McCartney’s star-studded Beatles ‘Abbey Road’ jam [‘Golden Slumbers’ / ‘Carry That Weight’ / ‘The End’], which was a highlight of the evening.

Dave Grohl, Joe Walsh, and Bruce Springsteen were all invited to take part in the days leading up to the ceremony. For Springsteen, the last person to join the jam, it was the culmination of a lifelong wish. The vocalist says that his manager Jon Landau got the call and asked him thoughts on participating. The singer laughingly recalls the conversation with Landau, explaining, “He says he’s got a guitar part for you to play, you know. So he says what should I say? I said, ‘Well Paul McCartney was one of the Beatles, is that correct?’ and Jon says ‘Yeah,’ and I said, ‘Well, then you say yes.'”

Springsteen says there was a brief backstage meeting in which he got to relay the fact that he had been waiting for that call to play guitar with McCartney since 1964.

As for Grohl, the request was also as shocking for the Foo Fighters leader. He recalled, “I can’t believe that me of all people will have this opportunity to go play with McCartney, who, if it weren’t for the Beatles and Paul’s position, I wouldn’t have learned how to play music. So to me that was just such a full-circle moment as a person.” […]

Last updated on January 31, 2021