“Cher was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the 2026 Grammys, but that was only half of the reason she was onstage at the music ceremony. The icon, who was a surprise guest at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, was greeted with a standing ovation as host Trevor Noah presented her with her career tribute.”, — write: www.hollywoodreporter.com
The icon, who was a surprise guest at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, was greeted with a standing ovation as host Trevor Noah presented her with her career tribute. After she delivered her acceptance speech, though, Cher was ready to leave, walking offstage as the crowd and Noah, standing on a platform in the middle of the audience, urged her to come back to announce the record of the year winner.
“Before you go, before you go, Cher, before you go, could, could we get you to announce the nominees? I could do it, but it’s not the same,” Noah pleaded.
As she returned, Noah said, “Welcome back Cher, everybody.” After she indicated she was ready to leave, she then announced the nominees before confessing she was told that the winner would be “on the prompter.”
Looking at the envelope, Cher read, “Luther” and then said either “Vandross” or “Grandross,” suggesting that the late Luther Vandross, who died more than 20 years ago, won one of the top Grammys this year. Cher quickly realized her mistake and identified the correct winner: Kendrick Lamar and SZA for “Luther.”
Cher wasn’t entirely offbase as “Luther” is named for the R&B icon and samples his and Cheryl Lynn’s 1982 song, “If This World Were Mine.”
Producer Sounwave began by offering a quick tribute to Vandross. “First and foremost, let’s give a shout-out to the late great Luther Vandross,”
Lamar then reflected on using “If This World Were Mine” for his track.
“To echo what he said, this is what music is about. Luther Vandross,” he said. “This is special for me. I gotta take my time; it’s one of my favorite artists of all time. And they granted us the privilege to do our version of it. When we got that clearance, I promise you, we damn they all dropped a tear, because we know how much you and Cheryl poured into that record,” Lamar continued. “And being able to put our vocals on it, it proves that we were somewhat worthy to be just as great as them individuals. And they granted us that, you know, they said no cursing though, can’t curse on it.”
At the end of his speech, Lamar again paid tribute to Vandross by saying, “Luther forever.” He added, “Cheryl, thank you so much if you’re out there listening, watching, we appreciate you from the bottom of our hearts.”
Prior to the record of the year mix-up, Cher delivered a speech in which she looked back at her career while trailing off occasionally.
“I don’t do this part very well. I mean put a microphone in my hand and have some music and I’m great,” she began, in what might’ve been a hint of things to come. “It’s a good thing they did it now because I have good genes and I wouldn’t have been here that much longer.”
She continued, “I knew what I wanted to be when I was 5 years old and I was famous at 19 and had a top rated show in my 20s actually but I thought I kind of thought I had it made. It didn’t occur to me how rough my career was gonna be and my life was gonna be, and I’m not saying, oh poor me, but whatever. But, I was, I really, I was either on the top or the bottom, you know, I was either a loser or winning an Oscar. So it’s been, you know, I’m sure a lot of you in the audience know what I’m talking about, you know, so, but. In the early ’80s, it got so bad that I had to go to Las Vegas and well, it was called the elephant’s graveyard in those days and then another label picked me up and I recorded a song called ‘Believe.’ And I was the first artist to use auto-tune. So, yeah, there was no such thing as auto-tune. It was a pitch machine. You guys are gonna know what I’m talking about, right? So anyway, The thing I want to tell you, the only thing I want you to take away with you, and I’ve been in this business. But I just wanna tell you, never give up on your dream, no matter what happens. Live it, be it, and if it’s not happening now, it will happen soon. So that’s all I have to say.”
The 2026 Grammys, hosted by Trevor Noah in his last time as emcee of the awards show, aired live from Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena on Sunday, Feb. 1 on CBS and streamed on Paramount+ from 5:00-8:30 pm PT.