Late Singer Luther Vandross' Team Reacts to Cher's 2026 Grammys Blunder
Luther Vandross’ team had a lighthearted response to Cher accidentally announcing the late singer as the Record of the Year winner at the 2026 Grammys.
The official Instagram account for Vandross, who died at age 54 in 2005, shared a clip of Cher, 79, reading the “Dance With My Father” artist’s name at the awards show on Sunday, February 1.
“And the Grammy goes to … oh, the Grammy goes to Luther Vandross!” Cher said while reading a card with the winner’s name on it. (Record of the Year was actually awarded to Kendrick Lamar and SZA for their song “Luther,” which was named after Vandross and samples his and Cheryl Lynn’s 1982 rendition of “If This World Were Mine.”)
The video then cut to a clip of Vandross accepting one of his own Grammys. He took home eight of the awards throughout his career, including multiple Best Male R&B Vocal Performance wins, Best R&B Album, Song of the Year and more.
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“I really appreciate this. This is not taken lightly. I’ll take this home, I’ll put it on the front door — you have to lift it up before you can ring the bell. So, goodnight and thank you everyone,” Vandross said.
In the caption, Vandross’ team wrote, “If only we could turn back time, @Cher ❤️,” referencing her 1989 hit “If I Could Turn Back Time.”
Cher caused confusion with her Grammys flub, which came after the pop star awkwardly accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award and tried to walk offstage without announcing the Record of the Year nominees.
“Cher, before you go … can we get you to announce the nominees? I could do it … but I don’t have the track record,” host Trevor Noah asked.
Cher joked, “You can see I wanted to get off the stage.”
Before making the Vandross mistake, Cher said, “And the Grammy goes to … oh, they told me it was gonna be on the prompter.”
“No! Kendrick Lamar!” she added after realizing her mistake.
Thankfully, Lamar, 38, and SZA, 36, were good sports about the error.
“This is what music is about. Luther Vandross … ” Lamar said during his speech before expressing gratitude that he was able to sample Vandross’ song. “This is special for me. I gotta take my time. It’s one of my favorite artists of all-time. They granted us the privilege to do our version of it. When we got that clearance, I promise you, we damn near all dropped a tear.”
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Meanwhile, in an interview with Entertainment Tonight after the show, SZA said she understood Cher’s mistake.
“We share the frequency of the song,” she said of the musical tribute to Vandross. “Like, that’s his frequency that allowed us to win and that allowed it to be memorable. So she’s not wrong. And she’s from that era — she probably really knew Luther Vandross.”
She continued, “Of course her brain and energy is connecting that energy to the energy that we’re sharing. We’re mooching off of what Luther already gave us. So we’re grateful. It’s like I wish I could speak to him. Thank you, Luther.”
