Wednesday Roundup

Legendary soul singer Etta James may not be able to attend this Sunday's Grammy Awards, but the singer will be remembered in a special tribute at the awards show. Singer Alicia Keys is tapped to pay homage to James, who died of leukemia last month at 73. Keys, a star in her own right with 14 Grammys under her belt will join blues great Bonnie Raitt to perform a medley of James's classics. James was laid to rest in her native Los Angeles. Rev Al Sharpton delivered the eulogy, and Stevie Wonder and Christina Aguilera performed at the touching private service. President Barack Obama issued a statement praising the singer. The 54th Annual Grammy Awards will air on Sunday on CBS at 8pm and include performances by Chris Brown, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Adele, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson and more. Be sure to tune in. In more Grammy news, Nicki Minaj will perform a new single on the awards telecast. The Young Money star will perform "Roman Holiday" from her sophomore album "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded". She will perform the song for the first time, just two days before she had been scheduled to release her new album. Due to delays however, the album won't be released until April 3. She's already teased two tracks from the album, "Roman In Moscow" and "Starships", which will premiere on Ryan Seascrest's radio show as the album's official single, according to MTV News. This will be Minaj's first appearance on the Grammys. With the recent shakeup at Fox's "The X Factor", creator Simon Cowell took time during an interview to set the record straight. As most fans know, judges Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and host Steve Jones were all given the boot. Cowell says the decision was made by the top brass and shot down the rumor that he offered a judging gig to singer Beyonce. He says such an appointment wasn't in the show's budget. Time will tell who the replacements will be. Be sure to catch Fox's "American Idol" as the auditions continue. It's part one of the Hollywood round and only time will tell who will make the final cut. On the tube: "American Idol" on Fox, "Person To Person" on CBS, "The Middle" on ABC and "Whitney" on NBC. Happy hump day!