Grammys Producer Lifts The Lid On Cher’s Chaotic On-Stage Moments

Grammys producer Ben Winston is lifting the lid on one of the most memorable moments from this year’s awards show, which took place when Cher made her way onto the stage.

Towards the end of Sunday night’s ceremony, Cher delivered an impromptu speech after being presented with a lifetime achievement award.

She then told the audience that she figured she was “supposed to walk off now”, with host Trevor Noah having to step in to remind her she was also announcing the recipient of Record Of The Year.

Following some confusion over whether the winner was being revealed in an envelope or the teleprompter, Cher enthusiastically declared that the award going to was “Luther Vandross” (or, indeed, “Luther Grandross”) rather than the actual recipients, Kendrick Lamar and SZA for their collab Luther.

Speaking to Rolling Stone after Sunday’s show, Winston recalled telling Trevor Noah in his earpiece: “You’ve just gotta get up and bring her back.”

Winston then insisted: “I promise you, we had briefed her, and I promise you, what she had to do was in the prompter.”

Fortunately, it seemed the producer was pretty happy with how things turned out, enthusing: “If I could go back in time, I’d want that to happen again. She’s happy with it. She had a great time. You want a bit of anarchy.”

SZA also defended Cher’s Record Of The Year blunder, pointing out to Entertainment Tonight: “[Kendrick and I] share the frequency of the song [with Luther Vandross]. That’s his frequency that allowed us to win and that allowed it to be, like, memorable.”

The Kill Bill singer continued: “So, she’s not wrong – and she’s from that era, she probably really knew Luther Vandross. Of course, her brain and her energy is connecting that energy to the energy that we’re sharing. We’re mooching off what Luther already gave us!”

Despite her decades in the music industry, Cher’s Lifetime Achievement victory is only her second Grammy win.

She previously picked up Best Dance Recording for Believe back in 2000, having already won an Oscar and since picked up an Emmy.