Another awards season has passed and left Yamaha artists and instruments standing victorious in the spotlight. In the month of February, Yamaha dominated television screens in the homes of film, sports and music lovers everywhere.
Over 140 million viewers tune in yearly for the NFL’s biggest night. This year proved to be no different as Super Bowl XXXIX kicked off and millions of sports fans sat around the television in a chips and dip trance. The Super Bowl’s feature performance was legendary Yamaha artist and member of the Beatles,
Paul McCartney. The nation’s most watched halftime show had McCartney singing and playing on a Yamaha
DC3A piano. Other performances also rocked Super Bowl XXXIX, including the current princess of soul,
Alicia Keys, singing "America the Beautiful" and playing her favorite instrument, a Yamaha Concert Grand
CFIIIS.
Keys continued her television trail of honors at the 47th annual Grammy Awards. Keys picked up four awards including Best R&B Album and Best R&B Song. Her fellow Yamaha artists like
Usher,
Norah Jones,
Brian Wilson and the late Ray Charles also racked up multiple awards and honors. Charles tied the record for Grammy awards with eight wins.
Yamaha pianos and instruments took center stage at the Grammys throughout every performance. One of the night’s most memorable moments was during a tribute performance on two white Yamaha DC3 pianos by Keys and Jamie Foxx (who portrayed Charles in the biopic, Ray).
Yamaha’s grandest night of the year also took place during Hollywood’s glamour-filled Oscars. During the televised event, Beyoncé performed with Broadway legend, Andrew Lloyd Weber, who played a Yamaha CFIIIS. The Counting Crows also performed onstage with a Yamaha DC7. Yamaha’s most exciting Oscar moments actually took place after the red carpet arrivals and acceptance speeches during the Elton John AIDS Foundation Oscar Party.
At the party,
Elton John and Yamaha unveiled two "Chinese" red
Elton John Limited Edition Signature Series Red Pianos worth eighty thousand dollars each. The pianos, modeled after Sir Elton’s piano from his popular Las Vegas show,
The Red Piano, were featured on Entertainment Tonight, All Access, Joan & Melissa Rivers Fashion Wrap up, and several other popular television shows. Sir Elton also performed onstage with one of the pianos. Both of the pianos were autographed by the legendary musician and later auctioned off for three hundred thousand dollars. All of the proceeds from the party benefited the
Elton John AIDS Foundation.
Yamaha hit several high notes in the beginning of 2005, but the year has just begun.
Yamaha artists have many more projects on the way and this year promises to bring even more great Yamaha moments in film, sports and music.
