Brandi Carlile honored Amy Grant and U2 at the Kennedy Center Honors, something which meant a lot to her.
The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual event that honors performers for the contributions they have made to American culture throughout their career. The honorees this year were Gladys Knight, Amy Grant, George Clooney, Tania León and U2.
“I feel like a million bucks. Being here always feels so important, and I have such gratitude for being able to witness somebody’s big moments in our country,” Carlile told Fox News Digital. “The honorees are always impeccably, perfectly chosen. I couldn’t agree more with the attributes and the deservedness of every single honoree tonight.”
Carlile was part of the tributes for both Grant and U2, something she was very excited about, saying, “There are so many songs that I wouldn’t have without U2” and “There are so many vocal attributes I wouldn’t have in my voice if it wasn’t for Amy Grant.”
Brandi Carlile was excited to be a part of the tributes for Amy Grant and U2 due to the impact they both have had on her career and her life.
(Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
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The singer-songwriter also went into detail over how she feels about Grant and the members of U2 living their lives as “outward facing, faith-based artists” but still managing to publicly be accepting of the LGBTQIA community, saying, “They walk through the world with love and justice on their sleeve.”
“They operate from a basis of their faith, and as a person sort of marginalized by major world religions and faith structures, the way that they’ve embraced LGBTQIA publicly I think does a lot for my people and for the trauma that we have experienced at the hands of the faith and organized religion,” Carlile explained.
Carlile is thankful for how hard U2 and Grant have worked to be “an exception to that rule,” adding, “I think they changed the way that God and faith are seen and practiced” through their acceptance of the LGBTQIA community. She said getting to honor them both in the same night was “impactful” to her and her “inner child.”
The singer came out in 2002 and has been married to her wife, Catherine Shepherd, since 2012.
She took the stage Sunday night to honor Grant with her band, The Highwomen, also consisting of Natalie Hemby, Marren Morris and Amanda Shires. Other stars honored Grant as well by performing some of her hit songs. Sheryl Crow sang “Baby, Baby” and gospel singers BeBe and CeCe Winans sang “Sing Your Praise to the Lord” along with Dianne Reeves, Hozier, Jamala and Michael W. Smith with the Howard Gospel Choir.
Brandi Carlile performed with her band, The Highwomen, as part of the Amy Grant tribute.
(Steve Jennings/Getty Images)
The “You and Me on the Rock” singer returned to the stage to close out the show as part of the tribute for U2, singing their song “Walk On” alongside Ukrainian singer Jamala, Dianne Reeves, Morris, Hozier and Crow.
Before each tribute began, the artists were introduced with a video showing the progression of both their professional and personal lives as well as messages from loved ones and close friends. Grant’s video featured messages from her children and some of the artists who performed for her, like Crow.
“Amy also taught me that it was possible to be funny, irreverent and Christian all at the same,” Crow said about listening to Grant when she was a young college student.
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Throughout her 40-year career, Grant has had three multi-platinum albums, six platinum albums and four gold albums with her total career album sales exceeding $30 million. Grant has won six Grammy Awards, has six No. 1 hits, 10 Top 40 pop singles and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with “Baby, Baby” being her biggest hit.
Amy Grant is a multi-platinum-selling artist with total career album sales exceeding $30 million.
(Paul Morigi/Getty Images)
The video that played before the tribute to U2 included the band’s guitarist, The Edge, who noted how special and unexplainable the band’s relationship with America has been and how cool it is that four “Irish lads” were getting an award for impacting American culture.
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U2 is one of four performers in American history to have No. 1 albums in four successive decades. Their first No. 1 album was “The Joshua Tree,” released in 1987, followed by “Rattle and Hum” in 1988, “Achtung Baby” in 1991, “Zooropa” in 1993 and “Songs of Innocence” in 2014.
