Grammys to feature first dance music segment

Grammy show producer Ken Ehrlich had considered putting dancing/electronica music into the ceremony in the past, but could never quite figure out how to incorporate the high-energy club feel in front of a sometimes staid audience.

He thinks he's figured it out this year. For the first time, the Grammy show will put the spotlight on the genre with a segment featuring Grammy nominees Deadmau5, the Foo Fighters, Chris Brown, David Guetta and Lil Wayne, all performing in a tent space amid 1,000 fans.

"We decided to go all out this year," Ehrlich said of the performance taking place outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where Sunday's ceremony will be held. "All we're going to try and do next week is to try and put the home audience in the middle of it. ... It is more than just sitting there and watching it."

Dance music did not receive its own category until 2003 with the best dance recording/dance field, and the music had not been featured with its own segment in the show.

"I don't know that I figured out a way to do it that felt right until now," Ehrlich said in an interview Monday. "My feeling about dance is it's such an immersive experience for the participant, that to put it on stage ... where the audience is not a part of it ... I don't know, honestly, until we came up with the idea of doing it this way, I don't know if it ever would have worked."

Ehrlich calls the performance the "most ambitious number that we've ever done outside the Staples Center." It will feature at least four cameras from audience level as Deadmau5 (pronounced dead mouse) and the Foo Fighters perform his remixed version of the band's song "Rope," which netted him one of his Grammy nominations, and as Brown and Lil Wayne perform with Guetta.

Ehrlich said the performance reflects the popularity of dance music over the past few years.

"As much as a recorded medium that it is, and the fact that it's selling a lot of CDs and downloads, it's really a live experience," he said. "It is more than just sitting there and watching it."

Other performers on the show include Adele, Bruce Springsteen, Chris Brown, Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift for what Ehrlich boasted would be a "pretty amazing show."

"What I try and do when we're building this show is to think about the audience first. ... What can I do that's going to keep an audience for 3 1/2 hours watching the Grammy Awards?" he said. "I do try and look for how broad I can make it and still assume that people are going to tune in and stay with it."

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Nekesa Mumbi Moody, the AP's music writer, reported from New York. Follow her at http://www.twitter.com/nekesamumbi.

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Chris Brown returns to Grammys; Rihanna also to perform

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Chris Brown will perform at this Sunday's Grammy Awards for the first time since beating his then girlfriend Rihanna in 2009 on the eve of the music industry's biggest night, which threatened to derail his music career.

Rihanna also is among the stars performing live at the event, and rumors have flown among fans and celebrity watchers in recent weeks that the pair may be secretly dating again -- speculation Brown's representatives have dismissed.

Grammy organizers said on Tuesday that Brown, who has three nominations including best R&B singer for his album "F.A.M.E.", had been added to the line-up for the February 12 awards show in Los Angeles.

They said Brown will join Foo Fighters, Lil Wayne, David Guetta and deadmau 5 for a performance highlighting dance and electronica music for the first time on the Grammy Awards show stage.

Organizers said last month that Rihanna, who has four nominations including album of the year for "Loud", will sing with Coldplay on the Grammy stage.

Brown, 22, has skipped the Grammys since launching a violent attack on Rihanna in 2009, leaving her battered and bruised and Brown in the custody of police.

Brown publicly apologized, admitted to criminal assault in court. A judge sentenced him to five years probation, six months community service and anger management counseling. But his clean-cut image took a major blow.

Rihanna's career on the other hand soared, and she scored hits with songs like "Man Down" and "Love the Way You Lie", which dealt with violence against women.

The pair appeared to have gone their separate ways but in recent months, speculation buzzed that they had reunited after they were spotted at the same Los Angeles nightclub and put out a series of cryptic messages on Twitter.

But Brown's spokesman said in January that Brown and Rihanna were "just friends".

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

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LL Cool J to host Grammys

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rapper and "NCIS: Los Angeles" actor LL Cool J will be the first official host of the Grammy Awards in seven years, the Recording Academy said on Wednesday.

"I'm thrilled to be a part of music's biggest night," said the two-time Grammy award winning host.

"I will always have fond memories of my first Grammy Awards and to now be hosting the Grammy show, in the company of so many other incredible artists, is a dream come true."

LL Cool J, who has been the host of the Grammy nominations concert since its first live broadcast in 2008, is the first emcee of the awards program since 2005 when Queen Latifah headlined. Since then, music's biggest night has foregone a host.

The "Mama Said Knock You Out" rapper will lead a star-studded line-up of performances, including country singers Jason Aldean and Taylor Swift, pop singer Kelly Clarkson, rockers The Foo Fighters, R&B singer Bruno Mars and first-time performer, rapper Nicki Minaj.

Kanye West is currently leading the nominations with seven nods, followed by the Foo Fighters, Mars and British singer Adele, who all have six nominations.

The 54th annual Grammy Awards will be held on February 12 in Los Angeles, and broadcast live on CBS.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

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Nicki Minaj, Foo Fighters to perform at Grammys

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rapper Nicki Minaj will make her debut Grammy performance next month, joining Foo Fighters, Bruno Mars and country singer Jason Aldean on the list of artists who will take to the stage on the recording industry's biggest night.

Grammy organizers said on Thursday that Minaj, who has four Grammy nominations, will perform at the February 12 awards show, as well as country sensation Taylor Swift, and Kelly Clarkson.

But there was no official word on Thursday on whether Britain's Adele, whose album "21" was the biggest seller of 2011, will be singing at the Grammys following surgery on her vocal cords in November.

Adele, who has been on doctor-ordered vocal rest since November, was not among the first list of Grammy performers. But the 23 year-old "Someone Like You" singer was listed on Thursday as being down to sing at the BRIT music awards ceremony in London on February 21.

Rapper Kanye West, who leads this year's Grammys with seven nominations, is also yet to be confirmed as a performer at the live awards show in Los Angeles.

Organizers said additional performers and presenters will be announced in the coming weeks.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy: Editing by Jill Serjeant)

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