This June will mark the one-year-anniversary of singer Christina Grimmie's death, but the loss is still clearly very fresh to her former coach on The Voice, Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine.
During last night's episode of the NBC musical reality competition, Levine and his current Team Adam hopefuls paid tribute to the late Grimmie with a heartstring-tugging performance of The Beatles' "Hey Jude" dedicated in her memory.
Grimmie, who placed third on the show's sixth season, was just 22 when she was fatally shot by Kevin Loibl during a post-concert meet-and-greet with fans on June 10, 2016. Loibl died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds at the scene.
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Grimmie's parents, Albert and Tina, and older brother Mark were in the Voice audience during Levine's touching tribute, and were visibly moved by his words.
"God, I loved her so much," the pop star shared, addressing the Grimmie family. "I am talking to you guys specifically, I’m talking to everybody. I miss her. It's unfair she is not here. We're going to sing a little song tonight, and I'm going to be singing every word to her, in her honor. Thank you guys for being here. Christina, we love you."
Voice contestants Jesse Larson, Lilli Passero, and Mark Isaiah joined him in singing the classic Beatles hit. You can watch the performance below.
Mark Grimmie later took to Instagram to thank Levine and The Voice for hiring his sister.
"Thank you The Voice for everything you guys have done for our family and everything you have done for Christina," Grimmie, who was present when his sister was killed, wrote. "@adamlevine @carsondaly thank you for all of your kind words and for making Christina always feel at home. And thank you @blairunderwood_official for being there with my family. Very bittersweet night, but we will keep pushing forward for Christina... Thanks again for all of your support through this incredibly tough time."
The woman posing alongside Grimmie is friend Sarah Rylynn, who is wearing shoes from the Q by Christina Grimmie line. Sales of the shoes will support the Christina Grimmie Foundation, according to Rylynn's Instagram.
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