Mick Jagger is to perform at this year's Grammy awards. The Rolling Stones singer will appear without his bandmates, in a tribute to the late Solomon Burke.
"We're thrilled, delighted, excited and very much looking forward to Mick doing his debut on [our] stage," said Grammys president Neil Portnow. "It's extraordinary to many of us that ... this will be [his] first time." While the Stones won Grammy awards in 1986 and 1995, they never performed at the gala. Even after receiving the 1986 lifetime achievement award, they only appeared by satellite from London. "It was at least three o'clock [in the morning] there," said producer Ken Ehrlich. "I think they had been celebrating before we went on camera. It was quite a moment."
This time, Jagger will perform a tribute with Raphael Saadiq to the late soul singer, who opened for the Stones several times toward the end of his life. Jagger is expected to perform Everybody Needs Somebody to Love, a Burke song that has been a Stones favourite since the early-60s. Burke died in October 2010, aged 70.
"[Mick's] asked me not to go into detail about what he's doing, but I think when you see the performance, it will make a lot sense," Ehlrich told the Associated Press. "I think it was the idea of the performance that was intriguing to him and really brought him here." Other performers will include Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Eminem and Arcade Fire.
Although Jagger's Grammys appearance will be his first public performance since 2007, fans are more interested in a possible Rolling Stones tour. This week, after a recent lawsuit brought alleged touring plans to light, the band issued a statement denying they had any "firm plans". Their last time on the road, the Bigger Bang, a tour that spanned from 2005 to 2007, is the highest-grossing rock tour of all time.
The 53rd annual Grammy awards will take place in Los Angeles at the Staples Centre on 13 February.
