Kobe Bryant Tragedy Sets The Tone At Emotional Grammy Awards

LOS ANGELES, CA — "This is for Kobe." Thus began the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, a celebration of music at the Staples Center that couldn't and didn't try to escape the tragedy of Kobe Bryant's untimely death in a helicopter crash Sunday that killed his daughter and seven others. With his Lakers jerseys hung in the rafters above, the basketball legend's death at age 41 was heavy in the hearts of those gathered inside and outside the Staples Center.

After Lizzo opened the show by dedicating her hit song "Truth Hurts" to the late Lakers star, Grammy's host Alicia Keys took the stage and addressed the sorrow in the building.

"We're all feeling crazy sadness right now because earlier today, Los Angeles, America and the whole wide world lost a hero," she said. "And we're literally standing here heartbroken in the house that Kobe Bryant built. Right now, Kobe and his daughter, Gianna, and all of those that have been tragically lost today are in our spirits, are in our hearts, in our prayers. They're in this building, and I would like to ask everybody to take a moment and just hold them inside, hold them inside of you and share our strength and our support with their families. We never imagined in a million years we'd have to start the show like this. Never, never, never, never."

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As she spoke, several in the audience were teary-eyed.

The memory of "the Black Mamba" continued to permeate the show with his jersey held up by Run-DMC during the group's live performance and displayed by Lil Nas X during his performance of "Old Town Road.'' Billy Ray Cyrus etched Kobe's number 24 onto his guitar.

Keys sang a tribute to Kobe with Boyz II Men, concluding with, "We love you, Kobe."

"I know that we're gonna do what we're here to do," Keys concluded. "I know that we're all gonna join together and do what we do in happy times and in challenging times. We're gonna sing together, we're gonna laugh together, we're gonna dance together, we're gonna cry together, we're gonna bring it all together. We're gonna love together, and we're gonna make sure that we are celebrating the most powerful energy, the most beautiful thing in the world, the one thing that has the power to bring all of us together, and that's music. It's the most healing thing in the world."