Ed Sheeran Gives A Touching Beatles Tribute When He Sings 'In My Life' At Grammy Salute

Apr 17, 2020 by apost team

As part of a Grammy television tribute to the enduring legacy of The Beatles, singer songwriter Ed Sheeran joined other renowned artists like Stevie Wonder, John Legend and Paul McCartney himself in performing the English band’s legendary tracks in front of a packed Los Angeles Convention Center celebrity audience back in 2014. Sheeran’s rendition of The Beatles’ In My Life, ranked among the greatest songs of all time, proved yet again that the young British pop singer is a master at acoustic covers.

The Sunday night CBS special, officially titled The Beatles: The Night That Changed America — A Grammy Salute, was filmed a day after the Grammys, garnering more than 70 million viewers across the country, according to The New York Times. In some ways, the event was a return to the past, to a nostalgia for the heyday of rock and roll. Even the event’s title — “the night that changed America” — was based on the band’s 1964 appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, which marked the United States debut of The Beatles, according to The New York Times. But the Grammy special, which for Beatles fans demands a full viewing, didn’t only look to the past. It also featured an incredible lineup of young musicians who will carry the torch into the next generation of pop music.

Kate Beckinsale, an award-winning British musician in her own right, introduced Ed Sheeran’s simple but all together moving performance of the decades old Beatles classic.

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“Tonight, we honor the place that the Beatles have in our lives. This is music that has never gone away,” Beckinsale said. “Consider the next brilliant song we are about to hear. First recorded for the band’s 1965 masterpiece Rubber Soul, it’s one of the most powerful and haunting Lennon-McCartney compositions of all time. The original, featuring a beautiful baroque piano solo by George Martin, is still stunning. Here to sing the enduring In My Life, one of england’s finest young singer-songwriters today: Ed Sheeran.

In classic Sheeran fashion, he then appears on stage with an acoustic guitar and his signature messy red hair — that’s it. And armed with just one instrument, Sheeran transforms The Beatles classic into something fresh and new. If it weren’t a Beatles event, you might even think that Sheeran wrote the song. His unique talent for taking someone else’s track and making it his own is just incredible. But he has had his practice.

The Grammy Award-winning artist, 29, is no stranger to covering the greats. Often using only a simple acoustic guitar and his velvety voice, the singer seems able to breath new life into anything he gets his hands on whether its a throwback to Nina Simone’s Be My Husband or an update of a contemporary classic like Lorde’s Royals. He even performed a live, uncut, acapella version of the traditional American folk song Wayfaring Stranger way back in 2011, which he uploaded onto his personal YouTube channel. And now, Sheeran can add one more feather in his cap after covering In My Life in front of not just Paul McCartney but also Ringo Starr and Yoko Ono themselves.

And if there’s any doubt that Sheeran killed it on stage, McCartney, Starr and Ono all join the massive audience for a huge round of applause. But really, it’s worth watching the video and deciding for yourself. If you’re a Beatles fan, you’re sure to be impressed.

What did you think of Sheeran's rendition? How does it match up to The Beatles' original track? Let us know and be sure to pass this story on to your musically-inclined friends and family members.