Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs perform onstage during the 66th Grammy Awards at Crypto.com Arena on Feb. 4, 2024 in Los Angeles.
Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs wowed the Grammy audience.
The beloved singer-songwriter made a long-awaited return to the Grammy stage Sunday night to perform her 1988 hit, "Fast Car," with country star Combs, whose cover of her beloved song took the charts by storm last summer.
Chapman won a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance' with "Fast Car" in 1989.
The pair had the room enraptured, with no less than Oprah joining the room in giving them a standing ovation at the end.
Get top local stories in Philly delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC Philadelphia's News Headlines newsletter.
Chapman has notably retreated from the spotlight in recent years. Her Grammy's performance was her first since singing on "Late Night with Seth Myers" in 2020. Her last tour was nearly 15 years ago, in 2009.
Nearly four decades after Chapman released "Fast Car," the folk ballad became the unlikely winner of the night at the Country Music Awards in November.
Chapman won song of the year, which is awarded to songwriters, and Combs, who reintroduced it to a new audience with his popular cover, took home single of the year.
Chapman didn't attend that ceremony, but released a statement saying “It’s truly an honor for my song to be newly recognized after 35 years of its debut."
"Thank you to the CMAs and a special thanks to Luke and all of the fans of ‘Fast Car.’"
The award made Chapman the first Black songwriter to win a Country Music Award.
Combs has been open about his personal connection to the song, and how his dad often played the song when he was a child, and he cherished the memory.
The Grammy performance opened with a pre-recorded video of Combs discussing how his cover came to be, and how grateful he was to Chapman for crafting it.
