Queen Bey(once) Stings Selma Movie Soundtrack Singer

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Last edited Thu Feb 12, 2015, 03:13 PM - Edit history (14)

Billboard: Queen B closed out the Grammys with Take My Hand Precious Lord, but the performance sparked drama when fans were upset that R&B vocalist Ledisi was not chosen to sing the same hymn she recorded for (the movie) Selma, (in which) Ledisi portrayed the late soul singer Mahalia Jackson...

Entertainment Tonight's Kevin Frazier asked Ledisi about the drama on the Grammys red carpet...(T)he singer responded, "I don't have a clue...Take My Hand Precious Lord...started with the queen Mahalia, the queen of soul Aretha Franklin, then I was able to portray and sing my version of the song and now we have Beyonce. Her generation will now know the song so I'm a part of history. I look it at like that instead of looking at it as a negative."

Frazier also asked John Legend how Beyonce was selected to open his performance with Common for the Oscar-nominated song Glory..."We were actually approached by Beyonce," Legend told Frazier. "She wanted to do an intro to our performance and introduce us. You don't really say no to Beyonce if she asks to perform with you."

Ledisi coincidentally lost to Beyonce in the Best R&B Performance category. (She) took the award for Drunk in Love over Ledisi's track Like This...

Unless Ledisi struck a deal to sing at the Oscars on Feb. 22, she got stung big time. But it all depends on whose idea was it to do a MLK/Selma tribute to begin with. I'm betting it was the Grammy people, simply because it makes sense -- and because inviting Ledisi as well as John Legend and Common (all Grammy nominees, but not for Selma) makes sense, too. But Beyonce threw a monkey wrench into the timeline, and not "coincidentally."

Forcing herself on Legend (and forcing Ledisi out) solved several problems for Queen Bey simultaneously:

1) She could join Katy Perry in presenting a more sedate stage image in the face of Obama's message to change the culture away from sexual exploitation and violence. They both wore long white dresses and stood still, in stark contrast to what they did at last years' Grammies:

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2) She was nominated for two Grammies for her song Drunk In Love, which not only undermined Obama's message, but which she performed at last year's Grammies. I guess she felt that re-performing it with entirely new staging wasn't a viable option.

3) It would show that she could be more than a half-naked Madonna clone. Lady Gaga won a Grammy for singing with Tony Bennett -- why couldn't she win one for singing with Jessye Norman someday?

4) An online cottage industry has arisen on the premise that she and her husband are practicing satanists (I like to call it the Illumin-Nutty). Performance of a gospel song would surely put a dent in that.

But there's a problem that both Beyonce and the Grammies overlooked: 5) She and Ledisi were competing for a Grammy, which Beyonce won. That raises the possibility of a quid pro quo -- which is why the Grammies should have insisted that either Leisidi remain involved, or Beyonce choose another song.

So here's how I think it went down: Grammies invite Legend/Common and Ledisi to do a Selma/MLK tribute, Beyonce invites herself to be part of the tribute, Grammies dis-invite Ledisi.

And now for the benediction: Ledisi's version of the song from the Selma album:

She sings it a capella? That suggests another possible problem for Beyonce: 6) Maybe she was either just plain jealous, worried about being out-sung, or both!


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1. Well, WAS Ledisi originally to be part of the Selma tribute, or was she not?

Last edited Sun Jun 4, 2017, 08:48 PM - Edit history (6)

I've found only one media source that dared to ask:

Beyonce just got herself caught up in some TROUBLING CONTROVERSY...You see, the Grammy Award planners committed to doing a tribute to Martin Luther King as early as December. And with the success of the movie Selma, they planned on using the actors/performers from the movie to help bring the tribute to life. Common and John Legend were to perform their Oscar nominated hit song Glory. And Ledisi - who played Mahalia Jackson in Selma - was to sing Take My Precious Hand. Well last week, Beyonce decided that she wanted to sing Ledisi's song...

(O)ne of Ledisi's closest friends...explained, "Beyonce was supposed to sing 7-11, it was all set. But I guess she changed her mind...Ledisi was rehearsing and everything, then last week they were, like, 'Beyonce wants to sing your part.' We all thought it was a joke, but it wasn't."

We don't know how reliable the source is, of course, especially since he or she is a friend of Ledisi's. But the time stamp on the screen capture of this photo from Ledisi's official Instagram feed dates it January 28 or 29 -- right within the source's timeline:

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Now, whatever she could be referring to -- what has Ledisi been working on so intently that it required six years AND divine intervention? Learning to drive with a stick shift? Straightening her hair? Getting her boyfriend to leave the toilet seat down? Breaking into the big time by singing an award-nominated song from an award-nominated movie on national prime time broadcast TV?

Queen Bey, you've been stung BACK!!!


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