Ariana Grande paid tribute to late grandfather with Manchester closing number

Ariana Grande closed her One Love Manchester concert on Sunday (04Jun17) with Somewhere Over The Rainbow as a tribute to her late grandfather.

The 23-year-old singer organized the charity mega-gig to raise funds for those affected by the suicide bombing at her concert in Manchester, England last month (May17), and closed Sunday's show with an emotional rendition of the classic track from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

Ariana's mom Joan explained that her daughter finished the gig with Somewhere Over the Rainbow due to the song's special significance within their family.

"I didn't know she was going to sing it," Joan Grande told Variety. "It's an emotional story: my father passed away two and half years ago, and that was the song she sang for him after he passed."

The iconic tune was her grandfather Frank's favorite, and before he passed away in 2014 he lobbied the singer to include it on one of her albums.

Joan revealed, "No matter how many hit songs she had, and no matter how incredible her concerts were - and he was always the first one there, applauding, kissing her, being in the front row - after every show, he would say, 'Ariana you know what song you have to sing? Somewhere Over the Rainbow.'

"And she would say, 'Grandpa, I don't know if that would work on a pop album.' And he said, 'I promise you, it's gonna be a big hit. It's the greatest song ever written.'"

The star-studded concert at Manchester's Emirates Old Trafford cricket ground was a triumphant success, with musicians as varied as Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Liam Gallagher and Coldplay coming together to entertain a crowd of more than 50,000.

Joan is proud of how her daughter dealt with the tragedy, saying she overcame her grief to help those who lost loved ones in the attack.

"Ariana didn't cry for days because of her fear for herself, she cried for the lives that were lost and her fans that were hurt," her mother revealed. "And that impacted her to a point where it was devastating pain. And she said, 'This isn't about me - this is what I have to do to make them feel safe and feel better.' She's quite a remarkable young lady."

The concert raised more than $3 million for a fund set up by the British Red Cross.