The scene is February 1998, New York City. The Grammys are being held at Radio City Music Hall, and Luciano Pavarotti is scheduled to perform the iconic "Nessun Dorma" before accepting the Grammy Living Legend Award. But mere days before the event, the Italian master suddenly becomes ill.
What to do? Who could possibly perform in Pavarotti's place?
Aretha Franklin, of course.
As presenter Sting commented before her remarkable performance, the Queen of Soul sang with a voice just as "legendary" as Pavarotti himself. Neither an opera singer nor a tenor, Franklin demonstrated to everyone watching that night that she really could do it all. The look on Celine Dion's face afterward summed it up.
Take a listen by clicking the player above, and remember the musical power of a true legend.
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