Grace Potter, Kamasi Washington, More Cover Marvin Gaye‘s "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" During Grammys Tribute [Video]

The 2021 Grammy Awards premiere ceremony opened up on Sunday afternoon with a collective virtual performance from Grace Potter, Kamasi Washington, Anoushka Shankar, and numerous other nominees who all took part in covering Marvin Gaye‘s “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” to celebrate the 50th anniversary of late soul singer’s What’s Going On? album.

The opening performance of the Marvin Gaye song was presented as a virtual montage featuring the above-mentioned artists along with Sarah Jarosz, John Beasley, PJ Morton, Bebel Gilberto, Thana Alexa, Alexandre Desplat, Ledisi, Camilo Regina Carter, and the Afro-Peruvian Jazz Orchestra. Each artist was given a few lyrical stanzas worth of time to perform their remote contributions to the cover montage, during which the show’s producers detailed each of their nominations in their respective genres.

Watch the opening virtual group cover of “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” to kick off the 2021 Grammy Awards during Sunday’s telecast below.

2021 Grammy Awards Marvin Gaye Tribute – “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” – 3/14/21

[Video: Recording Academy/Grammys]