A legendary group of artists covered Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology)” of his 1971 album What’s Going On. Twenty artists teamed up to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the album, including Kamasi Washington, Grace Potter and Gregory Porter.

The performance, in an AR-style video, kicked off the Premiere Ceremony at the 2021 Grammy Awards. Each artist performed from different locations, shown in floating triangular frames that were stitched together as each artist contributed their part. “Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology)” peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971.

Check out the performance here:

The cover features jazz saxophone player and bandleader Kamasi Washington, who is nominated for Best Score Soundtrack for a Visual Media for “Becoming.” Washington was also recently nominated for an Emmy. Washington recently joined Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper and 9th Wonder to form the new band, Dinner Party. The group announced their self-titled EP which was shared last July.

Also featured was Grace Potter, nominated for Best Rock Album Daylight and Best Rock Performance for “Daylight” as well. She also shared a music video for her single “Release.” Potter played a holiday-themed livestream event Twilight Hour last December. Gregory Porter also contributed to the cover – he was nominated for Best R&B Album with All Rise.

Photo credit: Owen Ela