Another Universe
The Grammy Award
This time of year the press is dominated by news of the Grammys, and with the cream of the crop up for the honors, we can't see why we should be any different!
Author: Estelle Venter (estelle.vent@gmail.com)
The 52 Grammy Awards
“The Grammys invited jazz, country, rock, soul and classical into the same hall. No regard for demographic studies of what would deliver ratings, no radio call-out research: a mad amalgam of the profound and the absurd and the creeping realization that one man’s Mozart is another man’s Vegas.”
- Bono (U2)
On 31 January 2010, the awards ceremony considered to be the highest honor in the music and the recording industry, as well as the industry’s equivalent to the Oscars will be held for the seventh consecutive year at the Staples centre, Los Angeles. Yep, its Grammy time, and stars and fans alike are awaiting the results with great angst but even greater excitement.
The Grammy Awards (originally called the Gramophone Awards) are presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the USA and honours outstanding achievements in the music industry. Even though this awards ceremony was established in 1958, it wasn’t until 1971 that the event was broadcast live. The trophy you see on TV is in actual fact a “stunt” trophy, with the real thing reserved for the stars of the night. The nearly 8000 trophies that have been awarded thus far are all hand made and assembled and finished off with gold plating.
Although there are over a hundred different awards, the four most popular are those in the General category. These are not restricted by genre and are: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year and Best New Artist. The criterion for a recording to be eligible for an award is that it must have been commercially released between 1 October 2008 and 30 September 2009. Approximately 7000 people are involved in the nominating and voting processes. These academy members are artists, producers, engineers, mixers and mastering engineers.
Artists We Are Excited About (in the top 4 categories)
Beyoncé
Beyoncé is R&B personified. This Billboard Woman of the Year has a few entries this year with I Am…Sasha Fierce (Album of the Year), "Halo" (Record of the Year) and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" (Song of the Year).The voluptuous diva sure is fierce and deserving of any (or all!) Grammys.
Black Eyed Peas
Fergie, Will.i.Am, Apl.De.Ap and Taboo gained recognition during 2003 with "Where Is The Love?" from their Elephunk album. Almost instantly they gained an international fan base and this track earned them top chart positions and various award nominations. Not much has changed and after more than a decade in the industry they are still a hit-factory: producing chart-toppers such as "Boom Boom Pow" and "My Humps." This year’s Top 4 sees entries from BEP with "I Gotta Feeling" (Record of the Year) and their album: The E.N.D (album of the year).
Kings Of Leon
The Nashville rockers had their big break with their hit "Sex on Fire" from their fourth album: Only By The Night. This band is made up of 3 brothers and their cousin: talent clearly runs in this family’s blood! Their track: “Use Somebody” has been nominated in 2 categories this year – Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
Lady Gaga
Playing piano by the age of 4, performing by the age of 14, and writing songs professionally by the age of 19, Lady Gaga’s love for music shone through from an early age. Her debut album: The Fame earns her three nominations at this year’s Grammys: "Pokerface" (Record of the Year & Song of the Year) and her album The Fame (Album of the Year).We predict at least 2 good years for the star: this one for obvious reasons, and next year when "Speechless" will also be eligible for a Grammy.
The Newcomers
The three most exciting nominees for newcomers are: MGMT, Keri Hilson and The Ting Tings. These are very different genres, but all three of these acts are equally deserving.
Some Grammy Trivia
- The male artist with the most Grammy wins is Sir Georg Solti, who bagged 31 awards. The honor for the female artist with the most awards goes to Alison Krauss with a total of 26 wins.
- Artists who have never won include Jessica Simpson, 50 Cent, Led Zeppelin, Diana Ross, Backstreet Boys, Queen, Jewel, Neil Young, Bob Marley, Janis Joplin, The Doors and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
- At the 2001 Grammys, Sir Elton John took the stage with Eminem in a very public display of support after gay-rights activists, offended by the troubled rapper’s lyrics, staged a protest at the event.
- The first artist to refuse a Grammy is none other but the girl with a conscience: Sinead O’Connor. During 1991, O’Connor refused her Grammy for the appropriately titled album: “I Do Not Want What I Don’t Have”. She cited the “extreme commercialism” of the event as the reason. Judging by the sales of O’Connor’s last 7 albums, “commercial” really isn’t her thing.
Arno Carstens
It’s been seven years. Seven long years. Seven excruciatingly long years. If you’re an Arno Carstens fan you’ll know what I’m talking about. It’s been seven years since an Arno Carstens album has seen daylight and the top of charts. We fell in love with Carstens’ trademark voice when he was still with the Nudies. With tracks such as "Blue Eyes", "Little", "Genie" and "Bubblegum On My Boots" Carstens rocked us until 2003 when he decided its time to go solo.
Titled “Another Universe” his debut album was hailed as a masterpiece, and subsequently became one of the biggest selling South African rock albums ever. Early 2004 this brilliant effort won Carstens a SAMA. His 2005 second album: “The Hello Goodbye Boys” was produced by Brian O’Shea (Seether) and apart from achieving gold status it also raked in a SAMA.
At the beginning of 2008 Carstens signed with John Giddings, the agent of artists such as the Rolling Stones, Madonna and U2. This meant a temporary move to the UK. In April of the same year Carstens and partner, Melanie, sent their dogs to stay with family, and packed their bags for London. In the UK he proved to be as big a hit as he is here in SA: with performances alongside The Police, Suzanne Vega, Paul Weller, Rolling Stones and Meatloaf and at renowned festivals such as the Isle of Wight festival and the Glastonbury Festival. Although his reception in the UK has been warm, Carstens knows SA will always be home and returns regularly.
Carstens’ popularity in the UK meant it would only be a matter of time before he released an album there. And his third album “Wonderful Wild” will have the honor of being that album. This album was written, recorded and mixed in London & Spain and was produced by legendary British producer Youth (The Verve’s Urban Hymns) and Jim Duguid (Paulo Nutini’s These Streets). Scheduled for release in April this year, Castens has just released the first single: "Dreamer". Says Carstens: “Even though the song has a very upbeat vibe, it really sums up the sadness of people falsely holding their relationship together just from their memories.”
The Rise of the You Tube Stars
In a digital world the internet has become the biggest platform to showcase up and coming talent, and in the music industry You Tube has become one of the biggest stages for upcoming artists to test the market. The advantages are easy to see: It's instant, it's on a huge scale, and it’s cost effective. With a few clicks an aspiring artist can upload a home video to an audience of possibly millions. Most of the You Tube stars are perfect examples of the advantages of a (fairly) red tape-less system, where it is not the label bosses who decide what we are exposed to. Most of these artists are not firstly signed and then exposed to the public, but they are signed after they gained the public’s support.
Check out four of the You Tube outfits who made the big time:
Straight No Chaser
This a capella group was formed in 1996 in Indiana by six students. During April 2006, one of their members uploaded a 1998 video of the group’s rendition of "The 12 Days Of Christmas". This video was watched by over 10 million people including chairman and chief executive of Atlantic Records, Craig Kallman, who subsequently offered them a recording deal. The rest, as they say, is history!
Ysabella Brave
The American vocalist published her first You Tube video in 2006. She was discovered by Cordless Recordings (an e-label of the Warner Music Group) after her videos collectively garnered nearly 10 million views. She performs in diverse genres including blues, jazz, rock, soul, pop and R&B. Check out "Baby One" and "James". Her sound is different, fresh. And haunting.
The Zimmers
This band was formed as part of a BBC documentary but won most of their fans’ hearts over on You Tube. What makes this cover band so unique is the fact that the youngest member is 71 and the lead singer is 90. Check out their covers of The Who’s “My Generation”, and Prodigy’s “Firestarter”. Freakin’ hilarious! We soooo love this!
Justin Bieber
Like so many other You Tube stars, Bieber posted videos of him doing covers on You Tube. He was only 13 years old, but was soon discovered by Usher who offered him a record deal. Now, 2 years later, Bieber is signed to Island Records and has just released his debut album: My World. Check out Usher’s cameo in Bieber’s “One Time”.
Snippets
- Las Vegas superstars, rock band: The Killers have announced plans for an indefinite hiatus. Guitarist Dave Keuning confirmed they are to take a break from touring this year. Says Keuning: “I’m not sure if people are aware of it but these are probably our last shows for a while. Unless some surprise thing comes up... We’re having a break. We haven’t had a break in quite a while. It’s just been touring and making records and on and on and on. It's been like six years just kind of connected together. We just want a little bit of time off, just to be myself and do what I want to do for a little bit.” Music will mourn this hiatus, but we sure hope this is not the beginning of the end. There has long been speculation about the band’s future since reports surfaced on the members’ inability to live in peace and harmony.
- Have you checked out Groove Armada’s latest single? The track: “Paper Romance” is the third single from their forthcoming Black Light album, and follows “Warsaw” and “I Won’t Kneel”. Love it! After 3 years the British electro duo are back with their best! Expect the album early in March 2010.
- Alternative rock band Smashing Pumpkins have released yet another track in their 44 track project. Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin’s replacement: Mike Byrne has been hard at work recording tracks for the upcoming “Teargarden By Kaleidyscope” album. This concept album consists of 44 tracks that are one by one released on the band’s website, then on a set of EP’s and finally as a full-length album. Even with only Corgan left of the original line-up, the sound on these tracks are still Pumpkins – goes to show, he was the heart of the band all along. Go check it out!
- We are so excited for Simon Cowell’s Everybody Hurts. This charity track will be recorded in aid of earthquake victims in Haiti and should be released during the next week. Artists confirmed thus far include Leona Lewis, Cheryl Cole, Rod Stewart, Michael Buble, Susan Boyle and Take That. REM has also decided to relinquish any royalties from the charity recording. The original Everybody Hurts was recorded in 1992 for the band’s Automatic For The People album, and has since become one of REM’s most successful recordings.
- Kings of Leon negotiated a very unique deal with Warner Brothers. The “Sex On Fire” rockers left Columbia Records for a deal which will see them pay half their recording costs themselves, but reaping in a bigger profit share. Usually a label will give an artist/band an advance to cover recording costs, which then has to be paid back in addition to the sharing of any profits. In the meantime the rockers are launching their clothing label this coming month, and with prices as high as £739 for their trademarked leather jacket, the bucks are sure to be rolling in.
- Boo! is back. Yep, Chris Chameleon and his band performing their brand of monkipunk (yes, they actually call it that! Although, can’t think of anything more suitable) are back from their hiatus. Chameleon will once again be joined by Ampie Omo, but Leon Retief will be replaced by drummer Riaan van Rensburg. Riaan is the son of musician, uhm, Riaan van Rensburg and he made a kak tune or six. You will also know him as the percussionist on Noot vir Noot who can’t stop smiling. This should be interesting.
Ouch!
“Boy George is all England needs - another queen who can’t dress.”
- Joan Rivers
“He moves like a parody between a majorette girl and Fred Astaire.”
- Truman Capote on Mick Jagger
Sources
www.music-news.com; www.tonight.co.za; www.jacarandafm.com; www.grammy.com; www.wikipedia.org; www.timeslive.co.za; www.billboard.com; www.cnn.com; www.aol.com; www.smashingpumpkins.com; www.news24.com; www.mtv.com; www.youtube.com; www.arnocarstens.com;