Sing it, Jamie!

While watching the American Music Awards recently, there were two parts that really struck me. The first is what Kirk Franklin said during his acceptance speech (my husband mentions it here), and the second is Jamie Foxx’s performance of his song “Wish U Were Here”.

Perhaps it was because I had no expectations for Jamie Foxx’s music (since he’s primarily known as an actor)… But when he started singing, I realized the song was specifically about his deceased grandmother. I remembered hearing about how she raised him and made him learn how to play the piano. I could really see the emotion behind his lyrics. When he took off his sunglasses near the end of the song and faced the audience, I got a little choked up…

Crazy, huh? It was just a really well done performance by Jamie Foxx – he deserved his win of Favorite Male Soul/R&B Artist.


For a little more about his relationship with his grandmother, here is an excerpt from his 2005 Academy Awards acceptance speech for Best Actor in a Leading Role (for his performance in the movie Ray):

… This is probably going to be the toughest part of this speech. My daughter shares my grandmother's name, "Marie." My grandmother's name is Estelle Marie Talley. She's not here tonight. And this is going to be the toughest part. But she was my first acting teacher. She told me to stand up straight. Put your shoulders back. Act like you got some sense. We would go places. And I would wild out. And she would say, "Act like you've been somewhere." And then when I would act the fool, she would beat me. She would whup me. And she could get an Oscar for the way she whupped me because she was great at it. And after she whupped me, she would talk to me and tell me why she whupped me. She said I want you to be a southern gentleman. She still talks to me now. Only now, she talks to me, in my dreams. And I can't wait to go to sleep tonight because we got a lot to talk about. I love you."