Has Billy Ray Cyrus ever won a Grammy? All we know as singer’s Trump liberty ball performance panned by viewers

Billy Ray Cyrus has been making headlines with his performance at the Liberty Ball in honor of President Donald Trump on Monday night.

As the singer took center stage performing Achy Breaky Heart and Old Town Road, his show didn’t go as expected. The 63-year-old struggled with technical issues and was slammed by fans due to his hoarse voice.

Billy Ray Cyrus is a two-time Grammy Award winner. He received his first Grammy in 2020 for his collaboration on Old Town Road with Lil Nas X, where he won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Music Video. The song was also nominated for the Grammy’s during the same year, as stated in his IMDb profile.

This was not the first time he was nominated for the Grammy Award. IMDb indicated that in 1994, he was nominated for Best Country Vocal Collaboration for Romeo. In 1993 he earned three Grammy nominations – first was Record of the Year for the song Acky Breaky Heart, second was Best New Artist and third was Best Country Vocal Performance, Male for Acky Breaky Heart.

Cyrus’ recent performance was deemed by a fraction of viewers as an “epic disaster”. His inability to hear his guitar and his gruff-sounding voice made things much worse. Here is how the social media has reacted to the incident.

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How have the netizens reacted to Billy Ray Cyrus’ Liberty Ball performance?

Billy Ray Cyrus began his performance at the Liberty Ball with his hit, Old Town Road. He strummed on his guitar as the video of the song played in the background. After it ended, he strummed on his guitar and whistled.

But then his guitar cut out, as reported by media outlets. He called out to the technical crew and said, “Is anybody awake? Where’s everybody at? Is anyone back there? Can somebody turn my guitar back on?”

Taking inspiration from Underwood, Cyrus launched a cappella version of his song Achy Breaky Heart, where he called the crowd to clap and sing along with him.

“If you encourage me I’ll keep going,” he said. “They told me to kill as much time as possible.”

He mentioned a similar incident faced by Carrie Underwood and said,

“Wasn’t Carrie Underwood fabulous? They had technical difficulties too. And in life, when you have technical difficulties, you just gotta keep going. Or as President Trump would say, ‘You gotta fight!’”

But the disappointed netizens took no time to slam the artist on social media. Some even questioned if he was singing as the video of Old Town Road continued to run on stage.

“Oh my god! Billy Ray Cyrus' performance at Donald Trump's inaugural Liberty Ball is an epic disaster. "Is anyone awake?"” A user wrote.

“Is he singing with the world's worst sore throat or something? He sounds absolutely awful” One user wrote.

“First, lip synching, his voice sounds horrid, and stage exit fail. But.... the mic didn't work right, the guitar didn't work either, which is entirely the stage manager's fault!!!!! Kid Rock also was having problems at the ball. AND, Carrie Underwood's equipment didn't work!” Someone else said indicating that it was management’s fault.

A few others expressed their concern for the legendary artist.

“I had no idea it was BRC….I hope he is ok, and gets some rest.” One person noted.

“That was truly a scary experience. Not sure if he was sick or drunk or both. Hope he is ok.” Another user pointed out.

Christopher Macchio, Lee Greenwood, The Village People, Jason Aldean, and Rapper Nelly were some other artists who performed at the Liberty Ball event.