In one of the most emotional performances of the 60th Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, country artists Maren Morris, the Brothers Osborne and Eric Church delivered a mournful version of “Tears in Heaven” in honor of the victims of the Oct. 1 mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas.
Each of the performers onstage was on the roster at the country festival, which was interrupted when a gunman in a 32nd floor room at the nearby Mandalay Bay Hotel opened fire on the concert attendees below. He killed 58 people and himself.
Eric Clapton’s 1992 weeper “Tears in Heaven” was written for a more personal tragedy — the 1991 death of Clapton’s son after a fall from the 53rd floor of a New York City apartment building. The song has since become a go-to mourning ballad.
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Bruno Mars, center, accepts album of the year for “24K Magic” with his production team onstage.
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Khalid, from left, Logic and Alessia Cara perform “1-800-273-8255” as the suicide hotline prevention number appears on screen.
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Alessia Cara performs her part in “1-800-273-8255” during an in memoriam tribute.
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Logic performs his suicide-awareness anthem “1-800-273-8255.”
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Chris Stapleton and Emmylou Harris perform “Wildflowers” during an in memoriam tribute to Tom Petty.
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Alicia Keys presents the award for record of the year to Bruno Mars for “24K Magic.”
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Sza performs “Broken Clocks.”
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Patti LuPone performs “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” during a tribute to Leonard Bernstein and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
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Ben Platt, right, performs “Somewhere” during a tribute to Leonard Bernstein and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
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Sir Elton John, left, and Miley Cyrus perform his “Tiny Dancer.”
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U2 appears via satellite as they perform “Get Out of Your Own Way” on the Hudson River.
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Kesha (unseen) is hugged by Bebe Rexha, Cindy Lauper, Camila Cabello and Andra Day after performing her song “Praying.”
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Kesha performs “Praying.”
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Chris Stapleton, left, accepts the award for best country album for “From A Room: Volume 1” from presenters Donnie Wahlberg and Hailee Steinfeld, who donned cowboy hats before calling his name.
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Janelle Monáe told the audience that “time’s up for pay inequality, discrimination or harassment of any kind and the abuse of power.”
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Maren Morris, left, and Eric Church perform.
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The Brothers Osborne perform as names of victims of tragedies appear onscreen.
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Rihanna performs “Wild Thoughts.”
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Shaggy, left, and Sting perform “Englishman in New York.”
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Comedian Dave Chappelle, left, accepts the comedy album Grammy for “The Age of Spin & Deep in the Heart of Texas” from Trevor Noah, right.
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Cardi B, left, and Bruno Mars, right, perform “Finesse.”
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Cardi B performs “Finesse” with Bruno Mars.
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Bruno Mars performs “Finesse.”
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Pink performs “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken.”
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Joe Saylor, left, Jon Batiste and Gary Clark Jr. perform a tribute to Chuck Berry and Fats Domino.
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Alessia Cara accepts best new artist Grammy Award.
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Karen Fairchild, left, Jimi Westbrook, Kimberly Schlapman and Philip Sweet of Little Big Town perform “Better Man.”
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Rihanna and Kendrick Lamar accept best rap/sung performance for “Loyalty.”
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Sam Smith performs “Pray.”
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Host James Corden opens the 60th Grammy Awards.
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Lady Gaga plays piano as she performs onstage.
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Mark Ronson and Lady Gaga perform at the 60th Grammy Awards.
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Comedian Dave Chappelle speaks onstage in between Kendrick Lamar’s performance.
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Kendrick Lamar, center, performs at the 60th Grammy Awards.
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Kendrick Lamar opens the 60th Grammy Awards.
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Paul Shaffer, left, presents the award for traditional pop vocal album to recording artist Tony Bennett, center, and audio engineer Dae Bennett for “Tony Bennett Celebrates 90,” at the pre-telecast show Sunday.
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Left to right, recording artists Zachary Scott Carothers, Eric Howk, Jason Wade Sechrist, Kyle O’Quin of Portugal. The Man, winners of pop duo/group performance for “Feel It Still,” accept the award at the pre-telecast show.
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James Fauntleroy accepts the award for R&B song during the pre-telecast show.
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Dwan Hill accepts the gospel performance/song award for “Let Them Fall in Love” at the pre-telecast show.
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Chris Stapleton accepts the country solo performance award for “Either Way” at the pre-telecast show.
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Members of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, winners of world music album for “Shaka Zulu Revisited: 30th Anniversary Celebration,” accept the award at the pre-telecast show.
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Jason Isbell accepts the American roots song award for “If We Were Vampires” at the pre-telecast show.
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Ice T performs with Body Count during the Grammy Awards pre-telecast show.
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Jazzmeia Horn performs during the 60th Grammy Awards pre-telecast show.
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Justin Hurwitz accepts the compilation soundtrack for visual media award for “La La Land.”
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Stile Antico performs at the 60th Grammy Awards pre-telecast show.
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Reba McEntire accepts the award for roots gospel album for “Sing It Now: Songs of Faith & Hope.”
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Residente accepts the Latin rock, urban or alternative album for “Residente.”
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India Arie performs during the 60th Grammy Awards pre-telecast show in New York.
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Paul Shaffer performs at the 60th Grammy Awards pre-telecast show.
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Paul Shaffer and the W.M.D. Band perform at the 60th Grammy Awards pre-telecast show.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press) FULL COVERAGE: Grammys 2018 »
Before they started, Morris dedicated the song to the victims, adding that “a continent away, the same was true in Manchester, England.”
She was referring to the killing of 22 pop music fans, many of them teenagers, by a bomber at a Manchester concert by artist Ariana Grande. The victims were killed when an explosive went off as the concert was letting out.
Added Morris at the Grammys: “The painful truth is that this year, in just those two events, 81 music lovers, just like us, went out to enjoy a night of music and never came back home.”
Since the Las Vegas massacre, Morris has been one of the few country artists to speak in favor of stricter gun legislation. “I didn’t really know how to help, except stand up and encourage people to change legislation on gun rights,” she told the Guardian last week, and added that “there’s a lot of staying out of the conversation and sweeping it under the carpet so as not to polarize their audience.”
She may have been referring to the way the tragedy was handled at the Country Music Awards a month after the shootings. Rather than take sides in the polarizing issue, the broadcast was criticized in some circles for dancing around the hot-button topic of gun control. Co-host Brad Paisley pointed the way when he said, “The way we see it, the best way to honor our fans is to play our music, loud and proud.”
For his part, Church has been less vocal but echoed the sentiment when, during a performance at the Grand Ole Opry not long after the shootings, he introduced a song he’d written in an attempt to come to terms with the tragedy.
Called “Why Not Me,” he debuted it by saying: “That night something broke in me, and the only way I’ve ever fixed anything that’s been broken in me is with music.”
On Sunday, Morris concluded her dedication by saying, “For those we lost, Eric, Brothers Osborne and I, who all performed in Las Vegas that tragic weekend, wanted to come together and honor the memory of the beautiful, music-loving souls so cruelly taken from us.”
The country singers’ Grammy rendition featured all the heartbreak of Clapton’s delicate original, with added twang. Morris, Church and brothers T.J. and John Osborne traded verses and harmonized, singing Clapton’s hopeful lines about heartbreak and the hope of an afterlife.
They did so before a backdrop featuring names of the victims, seemingly handwritten but, in fact, carefully scripted by those working in production for the Grammy Awards.
For tips, records, snapshots and stories on Los Angeles music culture, follow Randall Roberts on Twitter and Instagram: @liledit. Email: randall.roberts@latimes.com.
