In gentle tones of empathy

THERE was a tabloid overtone to the Grammy Awards this year, with Amy Winehouse’s personal struggles and Kanye West’s shocking loss of his mother, Donda, looming larger as each amassed more and more accolades. But for those in attendance and for Recording Academy officials, the event was notable for the outpouring of support for those artists.

Indeed, Winehouse’s charged performance and her emotional reaction to winning record of the year seemed to buoy the spirits of many at the show, who were rooting for the troubled singer in her recovery.

Backstage, Josh Groban said that he is a fan of Winehouse’s single “Rehab” and wished her the best. “I think it’s a great song, brilliantly produced. She’s a great talent, and we all hope she gets better.”

President and chief executive of the Recording Academy, Neil Portnow, said there was no conflict between the academy’s stalwart work in substance abuse treatment and education and its efforts to have Winehouse, who has been undergoing treatment for drug and alcohol dependency in Britain, performing on the telecast.

“She never was asked to leave rehab to do the show,” Portnow said after the ceremony. “We booked Amy to come – she wanted to come – and we would never ask anyone to do something they are not prepared to do. Her manager said she was in a good position to do the show and she was.

“We don’t get involved in the personal lives, we care about the music,” he added.

Rapper T-Pain, who performed on West’s best rap song winner “Good Life,” said that he felt a great deal of emotional support for his collaborator too, and was deeply moved by West’s “Hey Mama” performance during the ceremony. “I cried a little,” he said. “I had shades on so they couldn’t see, but it was fantastic.”

Perhaps because there had been so much discussion about whether Winehouse would appear at the show – she ultimately performed live from London via satellite – she seemed to be the central topic of conversation.

Chaka Khan had nothing but support to offer. Her own path, she noted, was not always straight and narrow, and she sees Winehouse not in the light of rehab, but redemption.

“She’s having trouble, she’s walking her walk,” Khan said. “We all have a path and a walk in life, and we hit hard and difficult times. Going through the chaos often leads to clarity and we have to be given the room and the space, each human being, that privacy, that time to be able to walk your walk, make your mistakes and come out of it, survive it. I’m a sum of all those parts.”