The Grammy Awards will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Beatles landmark performance on The Ed Sullivan Show with a two-hour special that will air on CBS. The program, titled The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles, will be broadcast at 8 p.m. EST on February 9th, 50 years to the day, date and time that John, Paul, George and Ringo made their U.S. TV debut on Sullivans show. More than 70 million viewers tuned in to that broadcast to watch the band play five songs, including I Want to Hold Your Hand and She Loves You. The band won seven Grammys in their career.
The 100 Greatest Beatles Songs
The program will be filmed on January 27th, the day after the Grammy Awards, and it will feature todays top artists performing the songs the group played on the Sullivan broadcast, as well as their hits through the years. Presenters, who are yet to be announced, will provide commentary and context about the groups impact at the time. The show will also include archival clips and rebroadcast footage from the Sullivan show.
The Beatles are one of musics most iconic groups, who won their first two Grammys, including one for Best New Artist, in 1964 the same year they took America by storm, said Neil Portnow, President and CEO of the Recording Academy, the group that puts on the Grammy Awards. As the Grammy Awards are Musics Biggest Night, its only fitting that we recognize this milestone moment in music history and pay tribute to this larger-than-life group and their enduring music and legacy.
Tickets to the taping will be available to the general public. Additional info, including which artists will perform and the celebrities who will attend, has yet to be announced.
Paul McCartney was recently on the cover of Rolling Stone. In the issue, he discussed his latest album, New, and how he still bounces song ideas off his memory of John Lennon. He also discussed how hed let go of his animosity toward Lennons widow, Yoko Ono; she has since replied that shes thankful for McCartneys comments. Since then, the Beatles have issued a second volume of their recordings for the BBC titled On Air Live at the BBC Volume 2.