Chuck Crisafulli is a Recording Academy/GRAMMY.com contributor.
In Lois MacMillan's 8th grade classroom, history comes alive … with a hip-hop beat. MacMillan has been an educator for 28 years, and she has taught every grade from kindergarten through 12th grade. For the last 18 years, she's been at South Middle School in Grants Pass, Ore., where she designs her hip-hop-influenced American history curriculum. Confrontations between historical figures…
The Beatles proclaimed that it was all you needed. Whitney Houston sang that she'd found the greatest of all. Kendrick Lamar rapped that it made him feel as powerful as Mike Tyson. And Bruno Mars insists that it's best served with strawberry champagne on ice. The element in question is, of course, love — an emotion potent enough to have…
Last year, James Corden began his debut as GRAMMY host with what looked like the most epic of fails: a shocking tumble down the grand, center-stage staircase that left him awkwardly sprawled among some oblivious backup dancers. The seemingly distraught host rose to his feet (one of which had lost a shoe), dismissed the dancers and proclaimed, "This is a…
Over the last six decades, Clive Davis — "The Man With the Golden Ear" — has had a singular impact on popular music, shaping the sounds and careers of talents ranging from Aerosmith to Barry Manilow, Aretha Franklin to Patti Smith, and Bruce Springsteen to Alicia Keys and Notorious B.I.G. <iframe width="620" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RaYqX-0AwRw" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe> His official…
During Matchbox Twenty's A Brief History Of Everything tour this year, fans who couldn't physically get to a concert could still enjoy the show: The GRAMMY-nominated band made use of state-of-the-art 360-degree cameras to present a fully immersive, fan-controlled virtual reality experience of their Oct. 4 performance in Denver. Additionally, fans purchasing VIP tickets could employ cutting-edge technology to get…
At age 36, it's amazing to think that blues guitarist Jonny Lang already has more than 20 years of experience as a performer and recording artist. His career highlights include notching his first platinum album at 15 (1997's Lie To Me) and a Best Rock Or Rap Gospel Album GRAMMY at age 26 for 2006's Turn Around. <iframe width="560"…
Most listeners first became aware of Sophie B. Hawkins with the release of her 1992 album, Tongues And Tails, and its breakout single, "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" — a debut powerful enough to earn her a Best New Artist nomination at the 35th GRAMMY Awards. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lt6r-k9Bk6o" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Hawkins went on to create more…
Making great music is always a challenge. But making a career of making music presents a second challenge: finding an audience who enjoys your music enough to spend money on it. New Orleans-based funk-soul collective Tank And The Bangas were announced as winners of the 2017 NPR Tiny Desk contest. The group has U.S. and U.K. tour dates scheduled through…
As a DJ, songwriter, producer and performer, Moby has always been a decidedly forward-looking artist who embraces new technology to create genre-defying music. But on his 2008 album, Last Night, the GRAMMY nominee allowed himself to look backward for inspiration with the old-style rave track "Everyday It's 1989." <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XRT9wsbIf-s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> "The nostalgia was no secret," Moby…
Editor's Note: Given the stage collapse prior to Radiohead's concert in Toronto on June 16, GRAMMY.com is republishing this feature, which originally ran in April 2010, outlining the dangers of live concert production. The incident in Toronto resulted in the death of Scott Johnson, Radiohead's drum technician, and the injuries of three other crew members.For many performing musicians, a stage…
(The Making Of GRAMMY-Winning Recordings series presents firsthand accounts of the creative process behind some of music's biggest recordings. In this installment, Pentatonix's Scott Hoying details the making of "Jolene" with Dolly Parton, which won Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 59th GRAMMY Awards.) We got together with Dolly through the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Spotlight Music series. They suggested…
Frank Sinatra didn't actually put Las Vegas on the map, but he certainly made it worth the trip.In 1941, when an uncredited Sinatra made his big screen debut in a Paramount feature called Las Vegas Nights, he was a painfully skinny crooner who sang with Tommy Dorsey's band, and the stretch of Highway 91 that would become the Las Vegas…
(The Making Of GRAMMY-Winning Recordings series presents firsthand accounts of the creative process behind some of music's biggest recordings. In this installment, Lalah Hathaway details the making of Lalah Hathaway Live, which won Best R&B Album at the 59th GRAMMY Awards, and "Angel," which won Best Traditional R&B Performance. Hathaway has won the latter award for three consecutive years.) This…
(The Making Of GRAMMY-Winning Recordings series presents firsthand accounts of the creative process behind some of music's biggest recordings. In this installment, sibling duo Jesse & Joy detail the making of Un Besito Más, which won Best Latin Pop Album at the 59th GRAMMY Awards.)Joy Huerta: Normally we write while we're on tour and for [Un Besito Más (One More…
Maybe it's more than obvious that singing is a form of musical expression, just like fiddling, horn playing or guitar shredding. But perhaps less obvious is the fact that the throat itself is a musical instrument, which needs to be tuned, adjusted and maintained just like a violin, saxophone or guitar.A professional guitarist might turn to a varied support team…
The numbers are astounding: 20 weeks in the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 and more than 45 million copies sold worldwide. Released in November 1992, the soundtrack for The Bodyguard featured six new recordings by the inimitable Whitney Houston, who made her acting debut in the film portraying singer/actress Rachel Marron alongside co-star Kevin Costner, who portrayed her bodyguard…
The fever hit hard. Toward the end of 1977 and through the following year, a single album inspired millions of listeners to put on formfitting polyester and hustle their way to the nearest dance floor. This of course was the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever — a box-office smash that made John Travolta a movie star and effectively mainstreamed the sounds…
An offhand remark completely changed the lives of Natalie Maines, Emily Robison and Martie Maguire, collectively known as the Dixie Chicks. The GRAMMY-winning, chart-topping trio was onstage in England in 2003 when Maines introduced the song "Travelin' Soldier" with a reference to the then-imminent U.S. invasion of Iraq. "We're ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas,"…
The sound. The look. The songs. The drama. Together, they were all part of the musical phenomenon that was 2006's Back To Black, the second album from Amy Winehouse. The British neo-soul singer teamed with producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi to create a release that irresistibly combined masterful jazz-inflected vocals, deeply personal lyrics and retro-R&B grooves. Five of the…
Ah, the pleasures of summer. Sunshine and sea breezes. Warm sand and cool beverages. Favorite playlists to relax to. Engaging reads to page — or swipe — through. Actually, if there's limited space in the beach bag, those last two pleasures can be easily combined by way of a particularly hot literary genre: the music memoir. Keith Richards may have…
