By Valentine Ozigbo
The Hilton Worldwide, through Rudi Jagersbacher, the President for Middle East and Africa, graciously invited me and my wife to attend this year’s 58th Annual Grammy Experience in Los Angeles USA. All-expense paid!
We left Lagos on Feb 10, 2016 via Emirates and connected in Dubai the following day joining Rudi and his wife, Jane. The Emirates A380 experience is always a delight. After about 17 hours on flight, we landed Los Angeles on the 11th. Our room was already assigned with schedules, event invites, and instructions well placed. I used most of the 12th for business meetings. We spent three nights at the prestigious Beverly Hilton and were conveyed to the Grammy’s with a Cadillac limousine! For our entire stay, we wore Nigerian – impressive tuxedos by King Hakbal and gorgeous dresses by Bijelly Couture.
The shows began on the 13th with the 2016 MusiCares® Person of the Year Tribute and the Honoree was legendary Lionel Richie. That afternoon, three Presidents of Hilton for Americas, EMEA and the MEA hosted us and other Hilton-managed hotel owners from North America and Europe, to a lunch at the celebrated Spago in Venice, Los Angeles. At about 5pm, we gathered at Le Chateau located in the lobby of the Beverly Hilton for cocktail and by 5.30pm, we all headed to the Los Angeles Convention Center for the classical Black Tie event.
After the special tribute, different artists performed various versions of Richie’s songs. Usher kicked off the performance with a full band as he dove into the Commodores’ 1981 hit “Lady (You Bring Me Up).” Soon after, John Legend performed 1977’s “Easy” sitting at a grand piano. Rihanna then followed with “Say You, Say Me,”.
Then Pharrell and the Roots led a Richie medley that drew from several songs and featured guest vocalists, beginning with Gary Clark Jr., who performed the Commodores’ “Slippery When Wet.” To Demi Lovato who sang ‘Hello.’to Luke Bryan for ‘Penny Lover’, Meghan Trainor for ‘You Are.’ and then Tyrese Gibson who performed The Commodores’ 1977 lively ‘Brick House and “Sit the fuck down,”. Stevie Wonder sat a keyboard for his appearance to perform “Three Times a Lady”. Yolanda Adams also followed with an impressive performance of Richie’s “Jesus Is Love,”. Dave Grohl later performed the solo hit “You Are”.
On Valentine’s day, we were presented a beautiful cake from the Beverly Hilton. That night was The Recording Academy® & Clive Davis Annual Pre-GRAMMY Gala right at The Beverly Hilton – International Ballroom. Clive Davis is an 83-year old veteran American record producer and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
He hosted the 2016 Pre-Grammy Gala, honouring music manager Irving Azoff, who received the Recording Academy’s Industry Icon Award. An endless list of movie stars, musicians and other Hollywood players were in attendance- Jamie Foxx, Sylvester Stallone, LLCoolJ, Chris Rock, Zayn Malik, Gwen Stefani, Blake Shelton, Michael Keaton, Jane Fonda, Christina Aguilera, Carly Simon, Barry Manilow, Caitlyn Jenner, John Legend, Brandy, Suzanne Summers, Quincy Jones, Nancy Pelosi, Larry King and many more.
We enjoyed several musical performances throughout the night and I had the opportunity to take lots of selfies with Jamie Foxx, John Legend, Brandy, Quincy Jones, Sylvester Stallone, LLCool J, etc.
The Grammys on the 15th was spectacular! It started with Pre-GRAMMY Brunch at The Beverly Hilton – Stardust Penthouse/Terrace hosted by the Hilton, one of the major sponsors. At about 2:30 p.m., we departed the Beverly Hilton for the STAPLES Center, venue of the Grammys in luxury Cadillac Escalade Limousines.
We were treated to red carpet photos and at 4.30pm, the door closed for the live telecast of the Grammywith LLCool J as host for the 5th consecutive time. Ten-timeGrammy winner Adele performed, marking her first Grammyperformance since 2012. Kendrick Lamar — this year’s most-nominated artist with 11 nods — also performed. His loaded performance was the night’s best. Additionally, Little Big Town and The Weekend performed among others.
We later headed for the Official GRAMMY Celebration® After-Party at the L.A. Convention Center where we spent the rest of the joyous night till about midnight.
The next day, 16th, we headed back home. But not without touring the good places of LA, including lunch with an old friend at the famous Bel Air hotel.
Indeed, I am most grateful to Hilton Worldwide for this memorable experience, and to my bosses, TOE and ENN, for allowing my wife and I enjoy this experience.
