Alicia Keys Honors Kobe Bryant With Powerful Piano Performance at Memorial

Alicia Keys performs during Kobe Bryant’s public memorial inside the Staples Center. See how the Grammy winner paid tribute to the basketball player.

By Mike Vulpo Feb 24, 2020 8:04 PMTags

Alicia Keys is celebrating the life of Kobe Bryant through her musical talents. 

During Monday morning's celebration of life ceremony for the Los Angeles Lakers basketball player and his daughter Gianna Bryant, Alicia performed a special song, described as one of Kobe and wife Vanessa Bryant's "favorite numbers," inside the Staples Center.

Dressed in a purple silk suit, Alicia was accompanied by a small orchestra as she played Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" on the piano. 

She later shared a message to Vanessa via Instagram, writing, "When you told me how the 'Moonlight Sonata' is such a beautiful part of your love story because Kobe vowed to learn it to show how deep his love is for you.... I was speechless."

"I am so honored to celebrate your deep connection to each other today. I felt the depth of your love for each other and your girls with every note I played today. Love is the most powerful force. The love between you lights up the world," Alicia added.

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Kobe Bryant and Gianna Bryant's Public Memorial: Stars Attend Celebration of Life

Today's public memorial featured a performance from Beyoncé, and several eulogies from those nearest and dearest to Kobe and Gianna. 

Vanessa also shared moving remarks on her close relationship with her husband and daughter. 

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

Alicia's performance comes less than a month after she had to host the 2020 Grammys hours after learning about Kobe's passing.

"Hearing the news about Kobe and his daughter was so tragic," she told Ellen DeGeneres. "And none of us can still believe it right now, to this day. So, I think that it was definitely a crazy feeling because, literally minutes before, we were going to do something else and we had to really figure out how can we properly honor him in his house on this night [with] everybody who adores him and loves him so much and has been inspired by him and felt so devastated in that moment. We couldn't—you know, we had to properly do that."

During the Grammys, Alicia and Boyz ll Men performed "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday."

"We're going to sing together, we're going to laugh together. We're going to dance together. We're going to cry together," she told the audience. "We're going to bring it all together. We're going to love together and we're going to make sure that we are celebrating the most powerful energy, the most beautiful thing in the world, the one thing that has the power to bring all of us together. And that's music."

Over the weekend, Kobe and his daughter Gianna also received a special tribute at the 2020 NAACP Image Awards.

The father-daughter duo was previously laid to rest earlier this month in a private funeral near their family's Southern California home.

To honor Kobe and Gianna's legacy, the Mamba and Mambacita Foundation provides opportunities to young people through sports. For more information or to donate, please click here.