How Billy Joel bit back at the Grammys in support of Frank Sinatra
In 1994, the Grammy Awards saw some big winners take home trophies. Whitney Houston won three with ‘I Will Always Love You’, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen, BB King and more, all teamed up as a tribute to Curtis Mayfield. The A-listers were in attendance, and Frank Sinatra was given the major accolade of the Grammy Legend Award. However, when he thought that the legend was disrespected, Billy Joel took action on Sinatra’s behalf.
It was Bono, of all people, who presented Sinatra with the award. With a cigarette in his hand, as it was the ‘90s after all, the Irish musician declared the musician “the boss of bosses”. He called Sinatra “a man heavier than the Empire State, more connected than the Twin Towers, as recognisable as the Statue of Liberty and living proof that God is a Catholic” in a truly celebratory and honouring introductory speech.
But as Sinatra, who was 78 at the time, took to the stage, it didn’t seem like the Grammys themselves were quite as respectful. Appearing visibly moved by the honour and by the applause he received from the all star audience, his voice sounded wobbly and emotion as he called it the “the best welcome I ever had”. He riffed his way through a view of classic crooner jokes, shouted out his wife and made a snide comment about being disappointed about not being asked to perform. Then, suddenly, for the audience at home, the camera panned away from Ol’ Blue Eyes and cut abruptly to commercials. When the show resumed, Sinatra was gone.
But it wasn’t just for the audience at home. It seemed that Sinatra’s speech being cut off was just as jarring to the people in attendance as the host, Garry Shandling, commented, “Mr Sinatra should have been allowed to finish his speech. It was a slight mistake. This is live television, and I’m sure Mr. Sinatra will get back at us by cutting this program another time. So let’s give another round of applause to Mr. Sinatra and move on.”
However, Billy Joel, a long-time fan of the crooner, wouldn’t move on. Later on in the programme, the piano man was to perform his song, ‘The River Of Dreams’. He got halfway through the song, performing energetically with an extensive band of singers and backup musicians, when suddenly, they all stopped.
“Valuable advertising time going by…valuable advertising time going by…dollars, dollars, dollars,” he said into the mic while looking at his watch, wasting time in his performance to throw the show off as a jab at the Grammys for their treatment of Sinatra. After the sharp yet humourous attack, he merely smiled and, without missing a beat, started the song up again, with his band following seamlessly.
In the history of artists staging protests at ceremonies or taking shots at awards shows, Joel’s has to be one of the slickest. Even though the plan must have been hatched at the last minute in reaction to Sinatra’s treatment, his band remained so incredibly polished, pulling off the plot perfectly as a fitting homage in defence of one of music’s true legends.
