It was 18 years ago this week that Yoko and Sean brought the audience at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California to its feet, when they walked to the podium to accept the "Best Album" Grammy award for "Double Fantasy." IK! reported about that event in our April-May 1982 paper issue #3. While researching our Instant History page for this week, we came across the photos and news reports from that event all those years ago and decided to relive that emotional evening online. I remember watching the program on television and filming it with an 8mm movie camera. This was pre-videocassette recorders.

FROM OUR GRAMMY REPORT, ISSUE #3

According to most reports, Sean and Yoko were in the audience during almost the entire Grammy broadcast, but only a few people in the orchestra section of the Shrine Auditorium were aware of their presence. Not until they walked up to the stage did the audience realize that Yoko and Sean had been sitting with them.

According to one Grammy official, Yoko had asked that the roving cameras not be focused on her and Sean. Yoko and Sean, plus security people, had waited in a private holding room before the show went on the air. The following pages of Instant Karma! tell you the whole story, as reported in major newspapers and music publications.

From Reuter News Agency:
Composer, arranger and record producer Quincy Jones won five Grammys, but it was the widow of ex-Beatle John Lennon who stole the show Wednesday night at the National Academy of Arts and Sciences awards ceremonies. Yoko Ono, struggling to hold back tears, was given a standing ovation when she and her late husband won a Grammy for their record album, "Double Fantasy." "I think John is with us here," Ono told the cheering audience of recording stars and producers. Her small son, by her side, peeped over the rostrum. Dressed in a long, cream gown, she broke down and sobbed when she returned to her seat in the audience. But she stayed on stage long enough to say quietly, "Both John and I were always very proud and happy we were part of the Earth and the Universe."

From the L.A. Times:
John Lennon's and Yoko Ono's "Double Fantasy" was awarded a Grammy as the album of the year Wednesday night, providing one of the most dramatic moments in the 24-year history of the record industry competition. As soon as the award was announced in the nationally televised ceremony, Ono - whose presence was a surprise to the capacity crowd - walked to the stage with the couple's son, Sean. Fighting back tears, Ono said, "I just want to say..Thank you very much." As the audience responded with a standing ovation, she went on, "Both John and I were always very proud and happy we were part of the human race and that we made good music for the Earth and the Universe."

(Photo: Associated Press)
Sean Peeks Over the Podium
As Audience Gives Them Standing Ovation
Ono left the auditorium immediately after the program rather than join other award winners in the press interview area. Lennon's nominations sparked a mini-controversy among some hard-core rock fans who have repeatedly criticized the Grammy balloting as favoring conservative pop strains over the work of bolder artists like Bob Dylan and Lennon. Although Lennon won six Grammy awards for his work with the Beatles, his highly acclaimed solo albums were snubbed during the 1970s by the 5,000 Grammy voters. Arguing that these nominations were merely a sympathy vote, some of the late rock star's supporters argued that any posthumous award would be an empty gesture. Ono, however, apparently disagreed. Elliot Mintz, a longtime friend of the Lennons who accompanied her to the Grammy ceremonies said, "Yoko came here tonight in a totally positive spirit. There was no sense of cynicism in her feeling about the nominations." (Reported by Robert Hilburn, LA Times)

From Associated Press:
A tearful Yoko Ono brought the audience to its feet at the 24th Annual Grammy Awards as she accepted the album of the year award she shared with her slain husband, John Lennon. Miss Ono's appearance on stage with the couple's 6-year-old son, Sean, all but eclipsed the rest of the winners and capped an evening of recording glory. Ono, regal in an off-white evening gown, was at first unable to speak as the Shrine Auditorium roared its approval.

She murmured, "I think John is here," and asked her tuxedo-clad son if he wanted to say anything. He shook his head, "No." Ono and Lennon - who had won no Grammys since his days as a Beatle - were honored both as producers and artists for "Double Fantasy" with co-producer, Jack Douglas also receiving a Grammy. (AP)

Picture: Front Page of Herald Examiner

From Billboard Magazine:
Quincy Jones won the greatest number of awards - five - but the emotional high point of the 24th Annual Grammy show was the album of the year presentation to John Lennon and Yoko Ono for "Double Fantasy." The sentimental favorite was made all the more poignant by the fact that until now Lennon hadn't even been nominated for a Grammy since the Beatles' breakup in 1970. (Reported by Paul Grein, BB)

From Los Angeles Herald-Examiner:
Last night at the Shrine Auditorium, the 24th Annual Grammy Awards belonged to the legends. It might even have been the first time in Grammy history that the one winner in two of the most coveted categories - Record of the Year and Song of the Year - was overshadowed by the presence of personalities too unique for simple categorization.

Yes, "Bette Davis Eyes" did win both Record and Song of the Year, but by the time Kenny Loggins and Pat Benatar escorted an overwhelmed Kim Carnes to the stage, this year's Grammy show was already history.

And last night, history was on the side of Yoko Ono, winner with her late husband, John Lennon, for the year's best album. The last standing ovation of the night -perhaps the most emotionally rewarding moment of the awards ceremony - went to Yoko Ono and her son, Sean, when they stepped to the podium to receive the Grammy for Album of the Year.

Ono fought to hold back tears. She could no longer contain her emotions when Loggins and Benatar read through the nominees for Record of the Year. When the presenters got to the Fourth nominated record, Lennon's "(Just Like) Starting Over," the TV camera caught Ono crying. While she was certainly crying for Lennon, her tears seemed to signify how truly devastating her loss was, especially in light of what "(Just Like) Starting Over" had come to represent.

But the Record of the Year award went not to Ono and Lennon, but to Carnes and her producer, Val Garay. "Bette Davis Eyes" was an outstanding record and it probably deserved to win. At the moment it was announced, though, Carnes' victory paled in comparison to Ono's loss. Ono was the evening's real winner. That she even showed up to possibly accept one of five potential Grammys was a testament to her courage. Her presence last night brought us closer to her, closer than we already believed we were. (Mitchell Fink, Herald-Examiner)

RIGHT: Photo Off TV by June Ewing:

From Los Angeles Herald-Examiner:
In a year of few musical surprises, last night's Grammy Awards ceremony still managed to produce a startling moment that left the audience humming with emotion. Late in the show, sentimentality began to peak when nominations for the Album of the Year were announced. The late John Lennon, nominated for five Grammys, and his wife, Yoko Ono, up for four had lost in all other categories. But when it came to the biggest accolade of all - they won.

A spontaneous standing ovation had already occurred when, from out of the cavernous Shrine Auditorium, Ono and son Sean emerged to accept the award. Although mother and son had been sitting quietly in the front row for the entire production, few were aware of their presence. A spokesman for the show said that apparently a directive went out that cameras were not to film Ono.

She was attended by her attorney and a large number of security men. When Ono stepped on stage, even the members of the glittery audience were taken aback. As she emotionally received the award with young Sean, word flew through the press area that she might make a backstage appearance for the media. Within a few minutes, that possibility had been replaced by a well-placed rumor. Ono reportedly had left the Shrine, flying off into the universe..in a helicopter. (Wanda McDaniel, Herald-Examiner)

Yoko's Reaction to the Shrine Auditorium Ovation:
"I was overwhelmed with the outpouring of love from the audience that Sean and I felt as we walked to the podium. The last year has not been easy. This (award) made me cry, but the tears were through smiles for the love that John and I created with our music."

One final note - In 1982, John and Yoko were nominated for Grammy Awards in the following categories:

Album of the Year- John, Yoko, Jack Douglas for "Double Fantasy"..WON
Record and Song of the Year - John and Yoko for "Starting Over"..(Won by Kim Carnes for Bette Davis Eyes)
Pop Vocal (Male) - John for "Double Fantasy" .. (Won by Al Jarreau)
Rock Vocal (Female) - Yoko for "Walking on Thin Ice"..(Won by Pat Benatar)

John was the second ex-Beatle to win the Grammy for Album of the Year.
George Harrison won for "Concert for Bangladesh" in 1972.
The Beatles won as a group in 1967 for "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band."