2024 Grammy Awards to feature star-studded performances and tribute to Los Angeles

CLEVELAND, Ohio – It’s time for the Recording Academy a.k.a the Music Industry to once again spend a few hours patting itself and its constituents on their collective backs by handing out several tiny Gramophones to artists, songwriters and producers at the Grammy Awards.

The 67th awards – happening 8 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 3 – will be broadcast on CBS, (WOIO channel 19, locally) and Paramount+.

Artists up for multiple major awards include Beyonce whose genre-line stomping country soul album “Cowboy Carter” earned her 11 nominations including the big three awards, album, song and record of the year for the single “Texas Hold ‘Em.” That brings her total nominations to 99, the most single-artist nominations in Grammy history.

Behind Beyonce are Post Malone, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar and Charlie XCX with seven each. Coming in at six nominations are Taylor Swift along with relative newcomers Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan.

But, though folks love to pull for their preferred artist (the BeyHive will go nuclear on social media if Beyonce doesn’t win one of the big awards) for many casual viewers who may not have any specific artist allegiance, the reason to watch the 3 1/2 hour show is for the performances.

With parts of Greater Los Angeles still engulfed in wild flames, this year’s ceremony will be a bit different with a special “In Memoriam” tribute to the city of Los Angeles that will feature Brad Paisley, Brittany Howard, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Jacob Collier, John Legend, Sheryl Crow and St. Vincent.

The tribute will come a few days after the massive dual arena FireAid event on Thursday night that featured performances by an array of stars including Green Day, Peso Pluma, Katie Perry, Stevie Wonder. Several Angeleno natives also performed, including No Doubt and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and there was a reunion of the surviving members of Nirvana – Dave Grohl, Krist Novocelic and Pat Smear fronted by Grammy nominees Kim Gordon, St. Vincent and Joan Jett.

Other announced Grammy telecast performers include Benson Boone, Eilish, Doechii, Raye, Sabrina Carpenter, Shakira and Teddy Swims. There also will be a tribute to legendary producer Quincy Jones featuring Cynthia Erivo, Herbie Hancock, Janelle Monae, Lainey Wilson and Stevie Wonder. Viewers can expect a more muted show with frequent reminders that many people in the wildfire’s path have lost everything and need help.

For all the proud Ohio homers, there are several folks to pull for including The Black Keys whose sprightly “Beautiful People (Stay High)” earned nominations for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance.

Other artists with O-H-I-O roots include Trent Reznor and composing buddy Atticus Ross, who are up for their fourth “Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media Grammy for their score for the Zendaya vehicle “Challengers.”

RELATED READING: Cleveland and Northeast Ohio musical talent abounds in 2024 Grammy nominations

As has been the case for several years, Cleveland and Northeast Ohio classical artists and producers are sprinkled throughout the classical category, none of which will be aired on television. Nevertheless, proud homers can pull for record and festival producer and 14-time nominee Elaine Martone, who is competing with another local producer and sometime collaborator Erica Brenner for Producer of the Year.

Other local classical folks nominated include Cleveland-based Jeannette Sorrell & Apollo’s Fire and several alums and current folks from the Cleveland Institute of Music, including Alan Bise, head of the institute’s Recording Arts & Services, who is up for two of his vocal productions, and alums pianist Michelle Cann and Daniel Ching (also an Oberlin alum).