*Jon Batiste goes into THE 64TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS® on Sunday with 11 nominations, more than any artist this year. But for Batiste, who is also the bandleader and a producer on CBS’ THE LATE SHOW with STEPHEN COLBERT, success is not without challenges.
Batiste and Suleika Jaouad, whom he calls the love of his life, talk about his music, her battle with leukemia and more, in an emotional and revealing interview with Jim Axelrod for CBS SUNDAY MORNING, to be broadcast Sunday, April 3 (9:00 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network and streaming on Paramount+.
Batiste and Jaouad, who wrote the bestseller Between Two Kingdoms, a meditation on being a leukemia survivor, learned that her illness was back just eight days before the GRAMMY nominations were announced.
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“One thing that I’ve learned from this time is … it can all go away,” Batiste says. “Things can change very quickly. From one day to the next, your world can be turned upside down.”
Jaouad had her first chemo treatment the day Batiste learned of his nominations. Together, they’ve found a way to balance the good and the bad.
“It’s holding the absolutely, you know, gutting, heartbreaking, painful things, and … the beautiful soulful things in the same palm of one hand,” Jaouad says. “And it’s hard to do that, you have to do that – because otherwise, the grief takes over.”
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This “Sunday Morning,” @JimAxelrod talks with singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and television personality @JonBatiste about becoming the most nominated musician of the 2022 GRAMMY Awards, what that means to him, and why he never takes his career for granted pic.twitter.com/Pt9evi5ACD
— CBS Sunday Morning ???? (@CBSSunday) March 31, 2022
Jaouad disagrees with the notion that when someone is sick it’s all tears and sadness. On the contrary, she says she and Batiste have laughed together more than ever before.
The spread of the omicron variant made it impossible for anyone to be with Jaouad during parts of her treatment. To help her overcome the moments of isolation in the hospital, Batiste turned to music, writing lullabies for her.
“Utter isolation. And I expressed that effect to Jon. And next thing I know, I see him hunched over his computer. And a half an hour later … he starts playing this lullaby,” Jaouad says. “And every single day after that, he wrote me a new lullaby. … And it felt like he was right there … sleeping by my bedside.”
“They had a healing property to the music,” Batiste says.
“That you wrote just for her to provide support and strength?” Axelrod asks.
“Yes, absolutely,” Batiste says. “And, and to fill the room with these healing properties and … for me, that’s my way. Everybody will have their way, you know, but seek that. Meditate on that. Focus on those things. Find those things.”
CBS SUNDAY MORNING is broadcast Sundays (9:00-10:30 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network. Rand Morrison is the executive producer.
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Editor’s Note: THE 64TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS will be broadcast live Sunday, April 3 (8:00-11:30 PM, LIVE ET/5:00-8:30 PM, LIVE PT) on the CBS Television Network, and will be available to stream live and on-demand on Paramount+.
source: Richard Huff – CBSNews.com
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