The 'All of Me' hitmaker and the 'But for the Grace of God' crooner have joined forces at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games by covering the 1971 song.
- July 24, 2021
AceShowbiz - John Legend and Keith Urban helped kicked off the 2021 Tokyo Olympics on Friday (23Jul21) with a cover of John Lennon's peace anthem "Imagine".
They were joined by Beninese singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo, Spanish musician Alejandro Sanz, and Japan's own Suginami Junior Chorus for the take on Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1971 song, which was arranged by composer Hans Zimmer.
Yoko approved of the tribute, tweeting, "John and I were both artists and we were living together, so we inspired each other. The song 'Imagine' embodied what we believed together at the time. John and I met - he comes from the West and I come from the East - and (despite his death) still we are together (sic)."
Publicists for the International Olympic Committee also released a statement with a timely quote from the late rock legend, which read, "We're not the first to say 'Imagine No Countries' or 'Give Peace a Chance', but we're carrying that torch, like the Olympic torch, passing it hand to hand, to each other, to each country, to each generation. And that's our job."
"Imagine" has been performed at several Olympics over the years - it was given a Korean pop star makeover at the 2018 winter games in PyeongChang, South Korea while a children's choir performed the song at the 2012 games in London, Peter Gabriel covered the anthem at the 2006 Turin Olympics, and Stevie Wonder sang "Imagine" at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
