Grammys 2007 Awards

[MsFroggy]

The Grammys are usually a joke. I remember just a few years ago when The Eagles were nominated in the best pop category . I think that was the last straw for me as far as the credibility of the Grammys goes. And whoever nominated My Humps is probably tone deaf. I actually didn't know that crap qualified as music...

[Google]

 

[BoBoFan]

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/154..._beyonce.jhtml

Jan. 11, 2007

Beyonce, Chili Peppers, Gnarls Barkley To Perform At Grammys
Pink, Rihanna among presenters for February 11 event.

By Gil Kaufman
The 49th annual Grammy Awards are shaping up to be a funky affair. Among the first group of performers announced Thursday (January 11) for the February 11 show are multiple nominees Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beyoncé and Gnarls Barkley, as well as controversial country trio the Dixie Chicks.

The Chili Peppers — who already have one Grammy for 1992's "Give It Away" — are likely to get several chances to take the stage at the Staples Center in Los Angeles that night. The band is among the leading nominees with six nods, including bids for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album for their double disc Stadium Arcadium, as well as Best Rock Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocal, Best Rock Song and Best Short Form Music Video for "Dani California" (see "Mary J. Blige, Chili Peppers Top Grammy Nominations List").

[DixiePixie]

I'm not much of a Grammys fan. Every year I find that the wrong people win.

[Cookiez]

Justin should win, he brought in a new aspect to urban music (spacy hip hop), which you have to admit, is so hot!

[rt1ky]

Timberland is the man who produced and created the sounds on Justin's and Nelly Fortado's new albums. He's been doing it for years with hip hop and R7B acts. I think this is his first masive pop exposure. He should get an award. Justin is a good performer, but he didn't create that sound.

[razorbacker]

This is an updated performaer & presenters list.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/...72&newsLang=en

Multi-Nominees Christina Aguilera, Mary J. Blige, Ludacris, Justin Timberlake and Carrie Underwood to Perform on 49th Annual GRAMMY® Awards

The Black Eyed Peas, Ciara and Nelly Furtado Added to Presenter Lineup for Music's Biggest Night™ on CBS Sunday, Feb. 11

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Christina Aguilera, Mary J. Blige, Ludacris, Justin Timberlake, and Carrie Underwood will perform on the 49th Annual GRAMMY® Awards telecast, it was announced today by The Recording Academy®. The Black Eyed Peas, Ciara, and Nelly Furtado will appear as presenters. Previously announced performers include Beyoncé, the Dixie Chicks, Gnarls Barkley and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Previously announced presenters include Terrence Howard, Samuel L. Jackson, P!nk, and Rihanna. The music industry's premier event will take place live on Sunday, Feb. 11, at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles and will be broadcast in HDTV and 5.1 Surround Sound on the CBS Television Network at 8 p.m. (ET/PT). The show also will be supported on radio via Westwood One worldwide and XM Satellite Radio, and covered online at GRAMMY.yahoo.com. Additional performers, presenters and special segments will be announced soon.
Leading the pack with eight GRAMMY nominations, three-time GRAMMY winner Mary J. Blige is up for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Best R&B Song, and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Be Without You," Best R&B Album for The Breakthrough, Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals (Jamie Foxx featuring Mary J. Blige for "Love Changes"), Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals (with U2 for "One"), and Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance ("I Found My Everything").
With four nominations, two-time GRAMMY winner Justin Timberlake (who will perform solo and with the My GRAMMY Moment winner) vies for Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for FutureSex/LoveSounds, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "My Love" featuring T.I., and Best Dance Recording for "Sexyback."
Also with four nods, GRAMMY winner Ludacris is up for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Unpredictable" with Jamie Foxx, Best Rap Performance By A Duo or Group for "Georgia" (with Field Mob and featuring Jaime Foxx), Best Rap Album for Release Therapy and Best Rap Song for "Moneymaker."
Three-time GRAMMY winner Christina Aguilera has two nods: Best Female Pop Vocal Peformance for "Ain't No Other Man," and Best Pop Vocal Album for Back to Basics.
Country superstar Carrie Underwood also has two noms: Best New Artist, and Best Country Female Vocal Performance for "Jesus, Take The Wheel."
The 49th Annual GRAMMY Awards are produced by John Cossette Productions in association with Ken Ehrlich Productions for The Recording Academy. Ken Ehrlich and John Cossette are executive producers, Walter C. Miller is producer/director, Tisha Fein is the coordinating producer, David Wild is the writer, and Tzvi Small is supervising producer. Musical directors for the telecast and pre-telecast are Rickey Minor and Larry Batiste, respectively.
Established in 1957, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc., also known as The Recording Academy, is an organization of musicians, producers, engineers and recording professionals that is dedicated to improving the cultural condition and quality of life for music and its makers. Internationally known for the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy is responsible for groundbreaking professional development, cultural enrichment, advocacy, education and human services programs — including the creation of the national public education campaign What's The Download® (WhatsTheDownload.com). For more information about The Academy, please visit www.grammy.com.

[BoBoFan]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/30/ar....html?ref=arts

The Police Will Kick Off the Grammys

By JEFF LEEDS
Published: January 30, 2007

The Police, who leapt from the British punk scene to become one of the world’s biggest rock acts before breaking up in 1984, will reunite for a performance to kick off the 49th Grammy Awards on Feb. 11.

The scheduled performance by the band members, who last played together when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003, is likely to heighten speculation that the Police will soon mount a full tour. The group would join a growing list of reunited acts expected to perform this year, including Van Halen and Rage Against the Machine.
The Police — known for “Roxanne,” “Message in a Bottle” and other hits — have won five Grammy trophies, but have never performed on the annual telecast. The prime-time Sunday performance on CBS, televised live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, would come 30 years after the release of the band’s first single, “Fall Out.”

This month Sting alluded to a Police reunion when he told the Television Critics Association that all the former members were talking. “We started 30 years ago, so it would be nice to do something to celebrate,” Sting was quoted as saying. “We don’t quite know what, but we’re talking about it.”

Oddly enough, the band’s reunion — announced by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which awards the Grammys — comes not long after perhaps the most public analysis of its breakup. Stewart Copeland, the Police’s co-founder and drummer, made a splash at last year’s Sundance Film Festival with a film, “Everyone Stares,” a first-person account of the band’s rise to prominence and subsequent disintegration.

After the band splintered amid internal tension in 1984, the Police’s singer, Sting, pursued a successful solo career, meandering from the band’s reggae-influenced rock and experimenting with other forms of world music. Sting has also become a reliable concert box-office draw in his own right. His 2004 tour with Annie Lennox, for example, rang up box office sales of more than $50 million and ranked as one of the 10 best-selling tours of the year, according to the trade magazine Pollstar.

Last year Sting’s first classical album, “Songs From the Labyrinth,” featuring music written by the 16th-century composer John Dowland, topped the classical album sales chart for 2006. His reunited band now joins a lineup of performers for this year’s Grammy telecast that includes Mary J. Blige, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Dixie Chicks and Gnarls Barkley, among others.

[bbnbama]

Well its narrowed down to 5 ladies now.....I'm undecided between Africa Miranda (a home state girl) and Jessie James (another Southern belle)! Heck, in the little video clip they have all 5 girls sing together and they sound better than Danity Kane...maybe they could show Diddy how its done!

Justin's Duet Partner?

Who Will Be Justin Timberlake's New Duet Partner?
FRIDAY JANUARY 26, 2007 07:40 AM EST

Forget American Idol. In an online talent contest, five young women are trying to do a lot more than impress Simon Cowell – they're competing for the chance to sing live with Justin Timberlake at the Feb. 11 Grammys.

"To say that it would be a dream come true is not even enough," says finalist Africa Miranda, one of thousands of performers who sent videos of themselves singing for the My Grammy Moment competition.

A panel of judges and Timberlake selected the finalists: Miranda, 30, from Montgomery, Ala.; Brenda Radney, 22, from Staten Island, N.Y.; Jessie James, 18, from Warner Robins, Ga.; Robyn Troup, 18, from Houston; and Jillian Gaudious, 25, from Long Branch, N.J.

"I was hands-on," Timberlake tells PEOPLE. "I looked at some tapes and gave my opinion."

The winner of the text-message and online vote will be announced just moments before the performance on Feb. 11, though the field will be narrowed down to three finalists by Feb. 4.

"To become a recording artist and the first time the world gets to hear them is at the Grammys, I don't think the opportunity gets any better or bigger," says Timberlake, who competed on the talent show Star Search as a kid.

The newly single star got a preview of the finalists' voices last week when they sang En Vogue's "Don't Let Go" for him. "They all have great voices," he says, adding with a goofball grin, "A couple of them are lookers too!"

You can cast your vote at Vote for the Duet

[SwanLakers]

Yeah the fact that they got the Police really changes everything. I'll be glued to my set.

[Unklescott]

I found this interesting.

Grammy prestige outweighs sales
Country artists rarely get commercial boost

By RYAN UNDERWOOD
Staff Writer

The gold-plated, spun-brass statues that will be handed out to the latest crop of top musical talent at Sunday night's 49th Annual Grammy Awards stand just 9 inches tall and weigh a respectable 4 pounds.

But for recipients of those iconic "gramophone" trophies, their value can range from the incalculable to just barely enough to cover the cost of a tuxedo rental, depending on who wins and in what categories.


Ricky Martin's smash Grammy performance in 1999 instantly catapulted the Latin singer to superstar status.

And in 2002, the four Grammys given to the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack spurred sales of an additional 159,000 copies the week after the show, helping blaze a new trail of commercial viability for the sounds of traditional bluegrass and country.

Then there are cases like that of Nashville songwriter and musician Robert Lee Castleman, who notched a 2001 Grammy win for Best Country Song and received another nod this year for the Alan Jackson song "Like Red On A Rose,"which he co-wrote with his wife, Melanie.

His Grammy accolades haven't always translated into career-changing success in the radio-centric country format.

"I can go see anybody I want to on Music Row. I can play songs for important people and they'll listen," Castleman said. "And then they'll say, 'No.' "

Even when Castleman won his 2001 Grammy for the Alison Krauss tune "The Lucky One," he said, he was asked why it beat out other songs in the category when it climbed only to No. 48 on country radio charts.

"The mentality is to get something that will be good for radio and can cross over to the pop side, like what Carrie Underwood's doing," Castleman said. "That's cool. You've got to do whatever you can to get ahead in this business. But that's not the kind of stuff I do."

After all, that recognition of creativity over commerce is supposed to be what the Grammy Awards are all about, said Nancy Shapiro, the Nashville-based vice president for member services at the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which puts on the Grammys.

Exposure can spike sales

Yet, a Grammy award in the much-sought-after all-genre categories often does spell big bucks for an artist in the short term.

Country is one of the genre-specific categories that are not televised as part of the prime-time awards show.

Ben Kline, executive vice president of sales, marketing and new media for Universal Music Group Nashville, said it's impossible to attach a general dollar figure to a Grammy nomination, win or on-air performance. Nevertheless, labels do expect sales bumps ranging from 30 percent to 50 percent or more for certain kinds of Grammy recognition, consistent with the exposure from a telecast to 17 million viewers in the U.S.

"In the case of Sugarland, we got a huge boost from that even though they didn't win," he said, referring to the Universal Nashville-signed group that was nominated last year for Best New Artist. "That put them on a huge stage next to great artists from all genres."

Sony BMG's Carrie Underwood and the Dixie Chicks are the only country acts nominated for overall awards this year.

Mike Kraski, president of Equity Music Group, the independent Music Row label to which the Grammy-nominated group Little Big Town is signed, said even a nod for a genre-specific category could provide a tremendous boost.

"For a new or developing act like Little Big Town, a Grammy nomination puts you in a whole new light. It speaks volumes about a group's credibility because it's decided by one's creative peers in the industry," Kraski said. As a former Sony Music Nashville executive, he saw the impact the Grammys had on the Dixie Chicks' career, though he said he had yet to see a direct Grammy-related sales spike for Little Big Town.

Wade Jessen, who manages country charts for Billboard, said it would be rare to see a significant sales increase after a Grammy win in a country category. That's especially true when compared with the format's other televised awards shows put on by the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.

One notable exception came in 2003 after the Dixie Chicks won three Grammys in country categories. "That was a huge spike," Jessen said. Sales had just begun to plateau when Natalie Maines made her infamous remark about President Bush, sending the album crashing back to earth.

Then there's Carrie Underwood, he said, whose rise to fame has been so meteoric that it's hard to imagine that a Grammy win would be anything more than a validation.

Lobbying does take place

Still, with the potential for added sales and exposure from the Grammys, vote lobbying goes on behind the scenes on Music Row, though many people said it was much less than for the CMAs and ACMs.

"To me it's more subtle with the Grammys," said Fletcher Foster, senior vice president and general manager of Universal South, explaining that other shows, unlike the Grammys, release databases of voting members.

And because Grammys — even in the country categories — are voted upon by members spanning all genres of music, Billboard's Jessen said it was hard for a lobbying campaign on behalf of a specific artist to have any real effect.

"There are a lot of people voting in the country category that may have a limited view of the genre," Jessen said, suggesting that is part of the reason why Grammy success and country radio airplay don't always go hand in hand.

But the Grammy brand is an enviable one, on par with an Oscar given for film. As Jamie Johnson, lead vocalist for the Grammy-nominated bluegrass band The Grascals, put it: "Whichever way we can get recognition like that, we'll take it."
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs....0103/702080384