Following the sudden death of Taylor Hawkins last week, the Grammy Awards will be airing a tribute to the Foo Fighters drummer during the ceremony on April 3. While details have yet to be confirmed, the telecast’s producers are working on crafting a fitting homage.
“We will honor his memory in some way,” Jack Sussman, the CBS executive vice president of specials, music, and live events told Variety. “We want to figure out what is the right thing to do that is respectful to everyone involved. We’re patient. We’ll be planning right up until the very end.”
Foo Fighters, up for three awards this weekend, was previously set to perform during the telecast, but the remaining members have canceled all forthcoming appearances for obvious reasons.
“We’re sorry for and share in the disappointment that we won’t be seeing one another as planned,” the band said in a statement. “Instead, let’s take this time to grieve, to heal, to pull our loved ones close, and to appreciate all the music and memories we’ve made together.”
It was also recently announced that Silk Sonic, the duo of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, will open the broadcast on Sunday; their song “Leave The Door Open” received four nominations.
Variety also reported that the Grammys are making an effort to highlight the lesser-seen gospel, tropical Latin, and bluegrass genres alongside more obviously crowd-pleasing performances by artists including Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Nas X, and BTS.
There will also be a special tribute to Steven Sondheim, featuring performances by Cynthia Erivo, Rachel Zegler, Ben Platt, and Leslie Odom, Jr.
The Grammy Awards, postponed from its original January date due to the omicron surge, will be held in Las Vegas instead of Los Angeles this year. Trevor Noah will be hosting the ceremony for the second year in a row.