"There's no 15-year old who doesn’t know who Prince is," Ken Ehrlich noted.
CBS will air Let’s Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince on April 21, the fourth anniversary of the legendary musician’s death. The show was filmed Jan. 28, two days after the 62nd annual Grammy Awards — and before the novel coronavirus pandemic put such entertainment events on hold indefinitely.
Actress Maya Rudolph hosts the show, and also performs with her Prince cover band, Princess. The show also features performances by Beck, Gary Clark Jr., Common, Earth, Wind, & Fire, Foo Fighters, H.E.R., Juanes, John Legend, Chris Martin, Miguel, Morris Day And The Time, Sheila E., St. Vincent, Mavis Staples, the Revolution, and Usher, with special appearances by Fred Armisen, Naomi Campbell, Misty Copeland, FKA Twigs and Jimmy Jam.
Ken Ehrlich, who wrapped up a 40-year career as the Grammy Awards’ producer or executive producer this year, served as executive producer of the special. In an interview with Billboard in the week preceding the Grammys, Ehrlich noted, “Prince is special. He probably did 12 TV appearances over his career. I did five of them. I think it’s going to do very well because the audience that has grown around him since his death is equal to or greater than the audience that loved him when he was alive. There’s no 15-year old who doesn’t know who Prince is.”
Ron Basile, Chantel Sausedo, Rac Clark and David Wild are producers of the special. Wild also wrote it. Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis and Sheila E. are the co-musical directors of the special. AEG Ehrlich Ventures, LLC produced the show with with the cooperation of The Prince Estate.
Let’s Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince is the latest in a long line of TV tributes that the Grammys have produced in recent years. Others have included Sinatra 100 — An All-Star Grammy Concert, Stevie Wonder: Songs In The Key Of Life — An All-Star Grammy Salute, The Beatles: The Night That Changed America — A Grammy Salute, Stayin’ Alive: A Grammy Salute To The Music Of The Bee Gees, Elton John: I’m Still Standing–A Grammy Salute and Motown 60: A Grammy Celebration.
Prince won seven Grammys over the course of his career, but he never won in a “Big Four” category (album, record and song of the year, plus best new artist). Purple Rain was nominated for album of the year for 1984, but controversially lost to Lionel Richie‘s Can’t Slow Down. The double album Sign “O” the Times was nominated in that same category three years later, but lost to U2‘s The Joshua Tree. Prince’s composition “Nothing Compares 2 U,” made famous by Sinéad O’Connor, was nominated for song of the year for 1990, but lost to Julie Gold’s “From a Distance,” a hit for Bette Midler.
Purple Rain and Sign “O” The Times have since been voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, as has Prince’s 1982 double-album, 1999.