Following the devastating news of the death of basketball player Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old Gianna yesterday, Alicia Keys opened the Grammys with an emotional song decided to the late sports star.
The Grammy Awards took place last night at the STAPLES Centre, which is the home of the LA Lakers – the team Bryant played his whole 20-season basketball career for.
Singer Alicia Keys emotionally spoke of the death of 41-year-old Bryant and his teenage daughter, and how they never thought they would have to open the Grammys like this.
Keys went on to say they were also literally sat in ‘the house Kobe Bryant built’.
She said:
Here we are, together, on music’s biggest night celebrating the artists that do it best – but to be honest with you, we’re all feeling crazy sadness right now because earlier today, Los Angles, America and the whole wide world lost a hero.
Now we’re literally standing her heartbreak on in the house Kobe Bryant built. Right now, Kobe and his daughter Gianna and all of those who have been tragically lost today, they’re in our spirits, they’re in our hearts, they’re in our prayers, they’re in this building, and I’d like to ask everybody to just take a moment and hold them inside of you and share our strength and support with their families.
We never imagined in a million years we’d have to start the show like this; never, never, never, never, never, never. So, we wanted to do something to describe a tiny bit how we all feel right now.
The 39-year-old singer then sang Boyz II Men’s It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye, and the group themselves joined Keys on stage to sing a beautiful a capella version of the song.
Along with Keys and the rest of the star-filled audience, heartbroken fans of Bryant also paid their respects by leaving flowers and tributes outside the STAPLES centre.
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677.
Niamh Shackleton is a pint sized person and journalist at UNILAD. After studying Multimedia Journalism at the University of Salford, she did a year at Caters News Agency as a features writer in Birmingham before deciding that Manchester is (arguably) one of the best places in the world, and therefore moved back up north. She’s also UNILAD’s unofficial crazy animal lady.