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GRAMMY Rewind: 35th Annual GRAMMY Awards

Eric Clapton wins Album, Record and Song Of The Year against these nominees

GRAMMYs/Dec 3, 2014 - 05:06 am

(For a list of 54th GRAMMY Awards nominees, click here.)

Music's Biggest Night, the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards, will air live from Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

In the weeks leading up to the telecast, we will take a stroll through some of the golden moments in GRAMMY history with the GRAMMY Rewind, highlighting the "big four" categories — Album Of The Year, Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best New Artist — in 10-year increments before capping off with a look at the last five years. In the process, we'll discuss the winners and the nominees who just missed taking home a GRAMMY, while also shining a light on the artists' careers and the eras in which the recordings were born.

Join us as we take an abbreviated journey through the trajectory of pop music from the 1st Annual GRAMMY Awards in 1959 to last year's 52nd telecast. Today, the GRAMMY Awards celebrates its 35th anniversary.

35th Annual GRAMMY Awards
Feb. 24, 1993

Album Of The Year
Winner: Eric Clapton, Unplugged
k.d. lang, Ingenue
Annie Lennox, Diva
U2, Achtung Baby
Various Artists, Beauty And The Beast

Clapton won his second Album Of The Year award (and his first on his own) for Unplugged. (Clapton had won 20 years before as one of the all-star players on The Concert For Bangladesh). This was the first album from MTV's "Unplugged" series to be named Album Of The Year. Another, by Tony Bennett, would win two years later, followed by a win for Nirvana's MTV Unplugged In New York in 1995. U2, who won the award in 1987 for The Joshua Tree (and would win again with 2005's How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb), made the finals with Achtung Baby. The album, which spawned the hits "Mysterious Ways" and "One," won a GRAMMY for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. Lennox, who was half of the GRAMMY-winning duo Eurythmics, scored with her solo debut Diva. The album spawned the hits "Why" and "Walking On Broken Glass." Lennox's video, also titled Diva, won a GRAMMY for Best Music Video — Long Form. Lang received a nod for Ingenue, which spawned the hit "Constant Craving." The soundtrack to the animated movie Beauty And The Beast rounded out the category. It was the first soundtrack to make the finals since Flashdancein 1983.

Record Of The Year
Winner: Eric Clapton, "Tears In Heaven"
Billy Ray Cyrus, "Achy Breaky Heart"
Celine Dion And Peabo Bryson, "Beauty And The Beast"
k.d. lang, "Constant Craving"
Vanessa Williams, "Save The Best For Last"

Clapton received his first Record Of The Year award for the heartbreaking "Tears In Heaven," his reflection on the tragic death of his four-year-old son, Conor. Clapton would win again in the category four years later for "Change The World." Dion and Bryson were nominated for "Beauty And The Beast," which was featured during the end credits in the animated movie of the same name. Dion and Bryson won a GRAMMY for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal for the track. Dion has since returned to the Record Of The Year finals with two more movie themes: "Because You Loved Me (Theme From Up Close & Personal)" and "My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme From Titanic)." Cyrus' "Achy Breaky Heart" was the first country hit to receive a Record Of The Year nomination since Willie Nelson's "Always On My Mind" 10 years before. The field was rounded out by lang's "Constant Craving," which won a GRAMMY for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female; and Williams' "Save The Best For Last," which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1992.

Song Of The Year
Winner: Eric Clapton, "Tears In Heaven"
Billy Ray Cyrus, "Achy Breaky Heart"
Celine Dion And Peabo Bryson, "Beauty And The Beast"
k.d. lang, "Constant Craving"
Vanessa Williams, "Save The Best For Last"

For the first time in GRAMMY history, the nominees for Record and Song Of The Year were exactly the same. Clapton and co-writer Will Jennings took the Song Of The Year prize for "Tears In Heaven." Clapton was the first artist to win GRAMMYs for Album, Record and Song Of The Year in the same year since Christopher Cross achieved the feat a dozen years before. Jennings would win Song Of The Year again six years later for co-writing "My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme From Titanic)." "Tears In Heaven" was featured in the movie Rush. "Beauty And The Beast" brought Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman a GRAMMY for Best Song Written Specifically For A Motion Picture Or For Television, as well as an Academy Award for Best Original Song. (It was a posthumous award for Ashman, who died of AIDS in March 1991.) Menken won Song Of The Year the following year for "A Whole New World (Aladdin's Theme)," which he co-wrote with Tim Rice. "Achy Breaky Heart" was penned by Don Von Tress and peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1992. The category was rounded out by "Constant Craving" (co-written by lang and Ben Mink) and "Save The Best For Last" (co-written by Wendy Waldman, Jon Lind and Phil Galdston).



Best New Artist
Winner: Arrested Development
Billy Ray Cyrus
Sophie B. Hawkins
Kris Kross
Jon Secada

Arrested Development was the first hip-hop act to win the GRAMMY for Best New Artist. The seven-member group was also the largest ensemble to win the award. "Tennessee" brought the group a second GRAMMY for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group. Another hip-hop act, Kris Kross, made the Best New Artist finals. The teen duo topped the chart with "Jump" in 1992. The field was rounded out by Cyrus, whose debut album, Some Gave All, topped the Billboard 200 and the Country Albums chart in 1992; Hawkins, who had a hit with "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover"; and Secada, who had a hit with "Just Another Day." Secada was a Cuban-born protégé of Emilio and Gloria Estefan. The latter sang background vocals on the song.

Come back to GRAMMY.com on Jan. 31 as we revisit the 40th Annual GRAMMY Awards. Meanwhile, visit The Recording Academy's social networks on Facebook and Twitter for updates and breaking GRAMMY news.

GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Linda Ronstadt's Sweet & Simple Acceptance Speech In 1977
(L-R) Linda Ronstadt and Peter Asher at the 1977 GRAMMYs.

Photo: Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

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GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Linda Ronstadt's Sweet & Simple Acceptance Speech In 1977

When Linda Ronstadt won a GRAMMY for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance — for her seventh album, 'Hasten Down the Wind' — she only had one special person in mind: her producer, Peter Asher.

GRAMMYs/Mar 22, 2024 - 04:32 pm

With Hasten Down the Wind, Linda Ronstadt became the first female artist with three million-selling albums in a row — and furthered her legacy as one of the pioneers of women in rock music.

The album also helped Ronstadt snag her second GRAMMY, as it won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1977. (The year prior, she took home Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her cover of Hank Williams' "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love With You).")

In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, relive the moment Linda Ronstadt won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Hasten Down the Wind in 1977.

Ronstadt kept her acceptance speech short and sweet: "I'd especially like to thank Peter Asher," the producer of the pop rock LP. "Thank you," she added with a smile.

To date, Ronstadt has won 11 GRAMMYs and received 27 nominations. In 2011 and 2016, respectively, she received a Latin GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award and a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award.

Press play on the video above to watch Linda Ronstadt take the stage to accept Best Pop Vocal Performance at the 19th Annual GRAMMY Awards and remember to keep checking back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

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GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Tina Turner Win Her First Solo GRAMMY In 1985 For "What's Love Got To Do With It?"
Tina Turner at the 1985 GRAMMYs.

Photo: CBS via Getty Images

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GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Tina Turner Win Her First Solo GRAMMY In 1985 For "What's Love Got To Do With It?"

Relive the moment Tina Turner won a golden gramophone for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female — an opportunity she had been waiting for "for such a long time."

GRAMMYs/Mar 15, 2024 - 05:04 pm

During her remarkable 83 years of life, the late Tina Turner received eight GRAMMY awards, a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award, and three introductions into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame.

In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, we travel to 1985, when Turner won a golden gramophone for one of her many iconic hits, "What's Love Got to Do with It?," in the Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, category.

"I've been waiting for this opportunity for such a long time," she said in her acceptance speech. "I have to thank many people. And all of you that I don't get to thank, you must know that it's in my mind."

Among those "many people," Turner praised Graham Lyle and Terry Britten, who wrote the track; John Carter, her A&R "who played a wonderful part" in relaunching her career with Capitol Records in the '80s; and Roger Davies, her manager, "a great man who has done a great job with her career."

Later that night, "What's Love Got To Do With It?" helped Turner win Record Of The Year; she also took home Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female, for "Better Be Good to Me." Though the 1985 ceremony marked Turner's first solo awards, she first won a GRAMMY in 1972 alongside her ex-husband, Ike Turner, for their recording of "Proud Mary."

Press play on the video above to watch Tina Turner's full acceptance speech for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, and remember to check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

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GRAMMY Rewind: Watch The Chicks Take 'Home' Best Country Album In 2003
The Chicks at the 2003 GRAMMYs.

Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

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GRAMMY Rewind: Watch The Chicks Take 'Home' Best Country Album In 2003

Revisit the Chicks' heartfelt acceptance speech after their sixth studio album, 'Home,' won Best Country Album at the 45th GRAMMY Awards — one of their three golden gramophones from the night.

GRAMMYs/Mar 8, 2024 - 06:00 pm

When the Chicks walked into the 45th Annual GRAMMY Awards, they already had four GRAMMYs to their name. But like Natalie Maines cheered at the start of their speech for Best Country Album, "No, this never gets old."

In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, relive the moment when the trio and Maines' father shared the stage to accept the golden gramophone for their sixth album, Home.

"We are so attached to this album and really proud of it," Maines shared. "It's our first co-producing effort, and we did it with my dad, Lloyd Maines. So, I want to check the record books and find out how many fathers and daughters have won GRAMMYs together."

"We want to say we are so glad we kissed and made up with Sony because they've done so many wonderful things with this record — a record that's acoustic and not very mainstream," Martie Maguire chimed. "Yet, it's winning GRAMMYs and topping the charts. We really credit the Columbia New York team."

Before closing out the speech, Emily Strayer and Maines praised the rest of their team in Nashville, and, of course, the fans: "We thought this would just be a project we gave away on the internet."

That same night, the Chicks — who at the time still went by the Dixie Chicks; they changed their name in 2020 — also won Best Country Instrumental Performance for "Lil' Jack Slade" and Best Duo/Group Country Vocal Performance for "Long Time Gone." As of press time, the Chicks have won 12 GRAMMYs, including four Best Country Album wins.

Press play on the video above to hear the Chicks' complete acceptance speech for Best Country Album at the 2003 GRAMMY Awards, and check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

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GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Doja Cat & SZA Tearfully Accept Their First GRAMMYs For "Kiss Me More"
(L-R) Doja Cat and SZA at the 2022 GRAMMYs.

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

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GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Doja Cat & SZA Tearfully Accept Their First GRAMMYs For "Kiss Me More"

Relive the moment the pair's hit "Kiss Me More" took home Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, which marked the first GRAMMY win of their careers.

GRAMMYs/Mar 1, 2024 - 06:11 pm

As Doja Cat put it herself, the 2022 GRAMMYs were a "big deal" for her and SZA.

Doja Cat walked in with eight nominations, while SZA entered the ceremony with five. Three of those respective nods were for their 2021 smash "Kiss Me More," which ultimately helped the superstars win their first GRAMMYs.

In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, revisit the night SZA and Doja Cat accepted the golden gramophone for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance — a milestone moment that Doja Cat almost missed.

"Listen. I have never taken such a fast piss in my whole life," Doja Cat quipped after beelining to the stage. "Thank you to everybody — my family, my team. I wouldn't be here without you, and I wouldn't be here without my fans."

Before passing the mic to SZA, Doja also gave a message of appreciation to the "Kill Bill" singer: "You are everything to me. You are incredible. You are the epitome of talent. You're a lyricist. You're everything."

SZA began listing her praises for her mother, God, her supporters, and, of course, Doja Cat. "I love you! Thank you, Doja. I'm glad you made it back in time!" she teased.

"I like to downplay a lot of s— but this is a big deal," Doja tearfully concluded. "Thank you, everybody."

Press play on the video above to hear Doja Cat and SZA's complete acceptance speech for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 2022 GRAMMY Awards, and check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

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