Noah Kahan Sings 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' for Emmys In Memoriam
Noah Kahan sang Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" during the In Memoriam segment at the 78th Emmy Awards on Sept. 14.
The performance remembered television figures who died in the past year, with photographs and clips shown as Kahan played. The Television Academy had announced in advance that Kahan would perform the song in the segment Television Academy.
Kahan was introduced by three of Catherine O'Hara's screen children. Macaulay Culkin, Annie Murphy and Dan Levy took the stage together to honour O'Hara, who was a focus of the tribute, according to Billboard.
The connection spans two well-known roles. O'Hara played Culkin's mother in the 1990 film Home Alone. She later played the mother of Murphy and Levy's characters in the television comedy Schitt's Creek, which ran from 2015 to 2020.
O'Hara died in January at age 71. Her death was one of the most widely noted losses in the industry this year.
Kahan performed with an acoustic guitar and a string section behind him. He stayed largely still at centre stage while the names and faces appeared on screen.
The song choice carries chart history. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the US singles chart, in 1970 for Simon & Garfunkel.
After the song ended, the broadcast continued with a separate spoken tribute. Jamie Lee Curtis came on stage to pay tribute to Rob Reiner, who played Michael "Meathead" Stivic on the 1970s sitcom All in the Family.
There was also a stand-alone tribute to Dolly Parton elsewhere in the show. Sally Field introduced it, and Reba McEntire performed "Appalachian Memories" for Parton.
Kahan is described by the Television Academy as a two-time Grammy Award-nominated and multi-platinum-selling artist. The Grammy Awards are the US recording industry's annual honours, while multi-platinum refers to album or single sales certified in the millions.
