The Best Performances of the 50th Grammy Awards

Jazz legend Herbie Hancock surprisingly, but rightfully, won for album of the year. He had already won 10 going into the ceremony. Amy Winehouse came away with five awards and Kanye West took home four. In a few days, only a handful of music junkies will recall these numbers. For the rest of us, we will remember the live performances, the real reasons people watch the three-and-a-half-hour affair. After all, the annual Grammy Awards is a mega concert that offers us the best music popular culture has to offer.

Alicia Keys opened the show in a duet with The Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra. Ol' Blue Eyes made his appearance via a black and white taped performance. They foreshadowed the evening's later performances that merged today's stars with names from the past, an appropriate celebration of the awards' 50th anniversary.

Funk band The Time hooked up with Rihanna for "Umbrella" and "Don't Stop The Music". Best Album winner Hancock performed George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" with classical pianist Lang Lang. Bebe Winans and Aretha Franklin the Queen of Soul teamed up for a colorful gospel experience. A duet featuring Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli was a commanding vocal feat.

Beyonce paired up with seven-time Grammy winner, Tina Turner, and turned back the clock with "Proud Mary". Turner, 68, had not performed in front of a live audience for more than seven years but did not seem to have missed a beat.

The performances reached rock star status when the Foo Fighters backed by a 30-piece orchestra rocked out to "The Pretender" in front of screaming fans outside the Staples Center. Anne Marie Calhoun, a young violinist, won an American Idol-like vote during the evening's program to perform with the Foo Fighters.

Little known Carol Woods and Timothy T. Mitchum gave a heart rendering performance of "Let It Be". Mitchum's unassuming stature with Woods' mighty pipes was an inspiring combination and made for a superior execution of a Beatles' classic.

The most anticipated performance of the night was that of troubled singer songwriter Winehouse. She was introduced by Cuba Gooding Jr. and gave a penetrating performance from London via satellite.

If the Grammy Awards is a concert, this year's headliners would be Jerry Lee Lewis, John Fogerty, and Little Richard. "Great Balls of Fire" and "Good Golly Miss Molly" had the crowd cheering. They performed a medley of classics closing out the show with some excitement.

The most memorable performance of the evening goes to West. He started forcibly with hit "Stronger" and finished with a spoken word rendition of "Hey Mama", a song that he wrote for his mother that appears on his 2005 album entitled Late Registration. Donda West died in late 2007. For anyone who has ever lost a loved one, his performance was healing.

West's speech will also remain in people's minds for quite some time as he did what no man has ever done. During his extended speech he began to thank his late mother but the transition instrumental tune had already begun to play. "It would be in good taste", requested West on the microphone for the producers to turn off the music. The request was granted and West was able to appropriately give thanks and recognition to Mom.