Country, Blues Stars to Honor B.B. King at Grammys

A diverse trio will perform a tribute to B.B. King, the late king of the blues, at the Grammy Awards, organizers of the music industry's biggest night said Thursday. 

Gary Clark Jr., a rocker with roots in blues guitar, will take part in the performance but will be joined by two figures from country music -- Chris Stapleton, a rising star who is nominated for Album of the Year, and Bonnie Raitt.

King, the son of Mississippi sharecroppers who popularized the blues through years of nearly daily concerts and an invariably cordial demeanor, died in May at age 89.

Announcing the latest batch of appearances for the February 15 gala, the Recording Academy said that pop celebrity Justin Bieber will perform with Diplo and Skrillex, the electronic duo behind the Canadian star's latest house-influenced album.

Other newly announced performers include The Hollywood Vampires, a supergroup that features actor Johnny Depp, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry and veteran shock rocker Alice Cooper.

The Hollywood Vampires, who released an album last year but have not previously played live on television, largely play covers of classic rock tunes from the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The Recording Academy previously announced a range of performers including Adele, the British ballad singer whose latest album "25" broke first-week sales records but which came out too late for Grammy contention.

The Grammys will also feature a performance by the cast of "Hamilton," the Broadway musical that has won wide acclaim for telling the story of a U.S. founding father through hip-hop.

The "Hamilton" cast will play from New York rather than appearing in Los Angeles -- only the fourth time the nearly six-decade award ceremony has brought in a performance remotely.

"Hamilton," whose music was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, is in the running for the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album, although it was not nominated in rap categories as some award watchers had predicted.

Other performers will include rapper Kendrick Lamar, who leads the night's nominations, and Lady Gaga, who plans a "multisensory" tribute to late rock legend David Bowie.