How Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs’ ‘Fast Car’ performance at the Grammys came together

nypost.com:

Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs’ surprise performance of “Fast Car” at the 66th Grammy Awards.The idea to have the duo sing Chapman’s 1988 hit was first floated in May 2023 by Grammys executive producers Raj Kapoor and Patrick Mention, Kapoor told Rolling Stone.To reach Chapman, who keeps a below-the-radar public profile, Kapoor and Menton went through Combs’ publicist, Carla Sacks, to get in touch with the senior vice president at Nonesuch Records, Matthew Rankin, who is a friend of Chapman’s, according to the Rolling Stone article.Sacks said it was “pure magic” that she knew how to reach Chapman, 59, who lives in San Francisco, according to People.“I knew the doorbell to ring,” she said. “And quite frankly, I think that made it very helpful to not be reaching out as a stranger and to be able to open the line of communication.”Kapoor and Menton didn’t want an immediate answer from Chapman but wanted to “let her think about this creatively and what it could be,” and told her, through Sacks, to return when and if she was ready.Finally, eight months later, in January, Chapman approved the performance with Combs at the 66th Grammys, which unfolded Feb.

4 at Crypto.com Arena in LA.“It never felt like a ‘no’ or a ‘maybe,'” Kapoor said. “They said, ‘We agree; let’s take our time and walk through this.