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Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones

Photo: Marina Chavez

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Billie Joe Armstrong, Norah Jones Talk Foreverly

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GRAMMY-winning artists discuss their Everly Brothers tribute album collaboration and recall past GRAMMY glory
Nick Krewen
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm

With 14 GRAMMYs between them, no one saw this coming: Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones have teamed for Foreverly, a duet album that doubles as a tribute to the Everly Brothers.

And it's not simply a rundown of Everly Brothers hits. Foreverly is a tribute to a lesser-known album in the Everly Brothers catalog, Songs Our Daddy Taught Us, which was released in 1958 as the duo were breaking into the mainstream with such hits as "Bye Bye Love" and "Wake Up Little Susie." Songs Our Daddy Taught Us, while still brimming with Phil and Don Everly's crisp, inimitable harmonies, was filled with dark, traditional tunes that were the antithesis of the duo's more popular fare.

Released Nov. 25, Foreverly features all 12 tracks on the original album, including the single "Long Time Gone," which showcases the album's retro-style arrangements and the unlikely yet pleasant pairing of Armstrong and Jones' voices. 

In an exclusive GRAMMY.com interview, Armstrong and Jones discussed the genesis of Foreverly, the dark lyrical nature of the original songs and fond memories of their respective GRAMMY histories.

What's the story behind Foreverly?
Billie Joe Armstrong: I just fell in love with the record [the Everly Brothers' Songs Our Daddy Taught Us]. The first time I heard it, I didn't know that they had made this record in the middle of a string of pop hits that they had in the '50s, and I love that stuff. And I loved the harmonies and started getting into the stories and how dark they are, and the old traditional songs that they were singing. I love digging deep as far as music history [and] rock and roll and folk and the blues and stuff. And when I heard the song "Oh So Many Years," I thought, "Man, it would be cool to do the whole album with a girl." My wife recommended Norah, and I thought it was a great idea.

Norah Jones: He called me and he really wanted to do this project — I guess he had it in mind for a while, but I was just off tour, so I was really tired. You know, a whole album is different than just committing to doing a song with somebody. So he kind of talked me into it, because I love the Everly Brothers, I love this kind of music. I love close harmonies. I was a little bit tired and not really ready to jump into a whole thing, but these are the kind of songs I love singing and they just kind of sing themselves, you know?

There really isn't anything really difficult or hard to them. So we agreed to go into the studio for just a couple days, and we ended up doing five days just to try it out — no pressure, and if it didn't work, it didn't work. We never really had sung together. Who knew if it would gel?

And when did it gel?
Jones: It took us a minute to find each other and sing well together. It happened pretty quickly, but there was definitely a tiny learning curve for us with each other. We just had to learn how to look at each other and follow each other's phrasing.

Armstrong: I think it happened when we did "Long Time Gone." That's when [we said], "Man, that sounds beautiful." We were so excited by it that Norah taught me how to two-step a little bit. It was just a great moment.

Norah, were you familiar with Songs Our Daddy Taught Us?
Jones: I was a big Everly Brothers fan my whole life, but I didn't really know this particular album that well. I knew a couple of songs off of it, so when I got the email from Billie Joe that he wanted to do this, I checked out the album before we talked on the phone. I love the album, and I love that it's old, old, old songs. And I love that it's not their hits or anything. It made it easier to reinterpret these old kind of folk songs, especially since it's just a stripped-down album. There's a lot of room to play around with the arrangements, which is nice. Although we were obviously doing their album, it wasn't like we were trying to copy them, which would be pointless.

Songs like "Lightning Express" and "I'm Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail" have pretty dark overtones.
Jones: These are real story songs and the lyrics are pretty heavy. … When we got into the songs, it was, "Wow, some of these are so dark!" We had a lot of fun in the studio. The vibe was really silly and we were goofin' off, all of us, but the songs are really heavy, and we'd think, "God, can you imagine? This is a real story." It was fun to bring the darkness out of the songs and play that up even more in the arrangements.

Armstrong: That's my favorite part. They're just old songs about mourning and loss and lost love and kids dying of consumption. I think it's a lot about poor people and working-class people, and the one way people can unite and grieve on is something in song. That's the one thing traditionally in America that we've had, because God knows, we can't have health care. [laughs] At least we've got songs.

Do you have an album favorite?
Armstrong: Today it's "Lightning Express." Tomorrow, it'll probably be something else.

Jones: "Long Time Gone." It's my favorite off the Everly Brothers' record and it's my favorite of our versions, too. It's less of a family death song and more of a cheated-me song, which I always love, but the melody is pretty special and the chorus — there's a lot of dissonance in the harmonies that I love.

Norah, you won your first five GRAMMYs for Come Away With Me at the 45th GRAMMY Awards in 2003. Do you remember that GRAMMY night?
Jones: Oh wow, you're going way back. I remember I was starving because there was no food anywhere. I was so hungry, and I couldn't believe that there was no food backstage. I was just ready to go party and eat. It was fun — a really crazy night. I'll never forget that cheeseburger I had after it was all over.

Last year, you accepted a Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award for your late father Ravi Shankar with your sister Anoushka Shankar.
Jones: It was nice to be there with my sister. It was really nice and special — he knew about it before he died. Had he been alive, he would have been able to be there. So it was kind of bittersweet, for sure. But I'm glad he got a chance to know about it before he died.

Billie Joe, you've won five GRAMMY Awards with Green Day. Which do you treasure most?
Armstrong: I think when we got Best Rock [Album] for 21st Century Breakdown [at the 52nd GRAMMY Awards in 2010]. That was a pretty grueling record to make, and right now, it's kind of standing out as my favorite Green Day record.

(Nick Krewen is a Toronto-based journalist and co-author of Music From Far And Wide: Celebrating 40 Years Of The Juno Awards, as well as a contributor to The Routledge Film Music Sourcebook. He has written for The Toronto Star, TV Guide, Billboard, Country Music and was a consultant for the National Film Board's music industry documentary Dream Machine.)

Bobbie Gentry

Bobbie Gentry

Photo: NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images

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Lady Legends And Newcomers Join Mercury Rev On Bobbie Gentry Tribute Album

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Mercury Rev revisits Gentry's classic sophomore album with female guest vocalists who shine. Catch the album out Feb. 8
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Nov 14, 2018 - 4:34 pm

Indie band Mercury Rev have announced their next album, a tribute to Bobbie Gentry's The Delta Sweete Revisited, will be available on Feb. 8.

The album features an array of guest voices. Mercury Rev's incredible selection of guest vocalists on the tracks kicks off with Norah Jones performing "Okolona River Bottom Band." Others lending their voices to the effort are Phoebe Bridgers, Vashti Bunyan, Rachel Goswell, Marissa Nadler, Beth Orton, Lætitia Sadier, Hope Sandoval, Kaela Sinclair, Susanne Sundfør, Carice van Houten, and Lucinda Williams, whose rendition of "Ode To Billie Joe" was added to the original album's tracklist.

"Bobbie is iconic, original, eloquent and timeless," said singer Margo Price, whose guest vocals are featured on "Sermon." "She has remained a strong voice and an eternal spirit of the delta, wrapped in mystery, yet forever here."

The Delta Sweete was Gentry's 1968 follow up to her debut Ode To Billie Joe, for which she won three GRAMMYs at the 10th GRAMMY Awards.

NEWS: @mercuryrevvd have announced the release of Bobbie Gentry’s The Delta Sweete Revisited! The album is a re-imagining of Bobbie Gentry’s forgotten masterpiece and features an incredible cast list of guest vocalists. More info here... https://t.co/ctfOtZ9kGb pic.twitter.com/TFfyaYdSVa

— bella union (@bellaunion) November 14, 2018

For the full track list and additional details see Bella Union's announcement and Pitchfork. Mercury Rev recently concluded their 2018 U.S. tour and will be playing across Britain in Dec.

Lucinda Williams Plots 'Car Wheels On A Gravel Road' 20th Anniversary Tour

Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt

Photo: Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns

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'Heart Like A Wheel': 7 Facts About Linda Ronstadt's Album | GRAMMY Hall Of Fame

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Investigate the album that led the mid-'70s into country rock, showcasing talent that went on to win many GRAMMY Awards and reshape American pop music
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Mar 16, 2018 - 3:20 pm

"And it's only love, and it's only love/That can wreck a human being and turn him inside out" — "Heart Like A Wheel" by Anna McGarrigle

Linda Ronstadt's fifth studio album, Heart Like A Wheel (1974), was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame among other recordings receiving the special award in 2018. Like other seminal records on the list that swept into popular consciousness, this particular hit had an impact that changed the game and opened up a new musical period, especially for American pop and what came to be known as "country rock."

A great live performer and song stylist, surrounded by some of the world's greatest rock and country musicians, Ronstadt's voice carried a heartfelt urgency that could slide expressively from pure ringing tone to emotion so thick it threatened to saturate the microphone. At times on Heart Like A Wheel, Ronstadt's passion and authenticity soars in a belt out of her phrasings or even holler. Let's go for a spin around Linda Ronstadt's life in the '70s, and deeper into Heart Like A Wheel, with these seven fascinating facts.

1. The Eagles Take Flight

Commercial success versus artistic culture is barely a conflict if, at the time, success can't help but follow the artists creating the culture. This was the case with Linda Ronstadt's legendary backup band, the Eagles.

This phenomenon was especially apparent at the 18th GRAMMY Awards (1975) as the Eagles won their first GRAMMY the same year Ronstadt did, in Best Pop Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group Or Chorus for "Lyin' Eyes." With the Eagles' Glenn Frey and Don Henley both backing up Ronstadt on Heart Like A Wheel, they enjoyed side-by-side commercial success while making a cultural impact.

At Linda Ronstadt's Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame induction in 2014, her Parkinson's condition left her unable to attend. Frey's acceptance speech on her behalf summarized events that led to their musical partnership, beginning at The Troubadour in Los Angeles in 1970. "Linda and I, we became friends, and in the spring of 1971, she hired me and a singing drummer from Linden, Texas named Don Henley to play in her backup band. From the first rehearsal, I felt we were working on a style of music none of us had ever heard before," said Frey. "While touring with Linda that summer, Don and I told her that we wanted to start our own band, and she, more than anyone else, helped us put together the Eagles."

2. The Song That Put Country Rock On The Map

Described in the contemporary Rolling Stone album review as a "soulful wail," Ronstadt's vocals on "You're No Good" took American pop music to a place it hadn't quite been before. With a strong lyric to a rocking beat, it combined soul and country flair.

On the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated Feb. 15, 1975, "You're No Good" was No. 1. A triumph for her producer Peter Asher as well as Ronstadt, it led the album's ascent to double-platinum status. But the song wasn't always an obvious choice for a single. In fact, it had started as the song Ronstadt always used to close her live sets. Putting it on the album was recalled as an afterthought.

3. Romantic And Musical Partner, J.D. Souther

In that same speech, Frey said he loved Ronstadt "at first sight" but "a guitar-slinging, love-rustler from Amarillo, Texas, named John David Souther … beat me to the punch." A romantic figure, especially as a true country singer/songwriter, author Marc Eliot said Souther was considered for the Eagles but one of the other members objected. He performed with Frey as a duo on their 1969 self-titled album Longbranch Pennywhistle, and he produced Ronstadt's 1973 album Don't Cry Now and wrote "Faithless Love" for Heart Like A Wheel. Years later when Glen Campbell covered it as his lead single on Letter To Home, the classic brought J.D. Souther a GRAMMY nomination for 1984 for Best Country Song.

The Rolling Stone review described "Faithless Love" as "perhaps the strongest ballad he's written to date," and it praised Souther's singing harmony as well as Herb Pedersen's banjo. "I don't think I realized how world-class J.D. was because everybody that I knew was writing good songs," Ronstadt said in a recent interview. "I didn't know how good they were going to be." This GRAMMY Hall Of Fame induction provides lasting recognition of that level of excellence.

4. The Title Track's Folksinging Sisters

The album's title track was penned by Anna McGarrigle, who was part of Montreal's folk scene. The lyric quoted above, that love "can wreck a human being," was called out by Rolling Stone because it "distills the themes of the album [and] … underscores the essence of Ronstadt's vocal personality."

With her sister, the album Kate & Anna McGarrigle was released in 1976, and Ronstadt's enthusiasm with the sisters is evident in their many filmed appearances together. Kate McGarrigle had married Loudon Wainwright III in 1971 and they are the parents of Rufus Wainwright.

Also appearing on the title track was Maria Muldaur, whose hit "Midnight At The Oasis" had been nominated for Record Of The Year for 1974 at the 17th GRAMMY Awards. Muldaur was also an enthusiastic singer of other compositions by the McGarrigles.

5. Topping The Everly Brothers' On The Charts

It is a quality of great interpreters that they can take somebody else's hit and make theirs even bigger. The Everly Brothers' "When Will I Be Loved" went to No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960 but Ronstadt took it to No. 2 in 1975, rearranging the verses for her version.

The winner of Record Of The Year at the 18th GRAMMY Awards, "Love Will Keep Us Together" by the Captain & Tennille, dominated the year and also kept Ronstadt's No. 2 version of "When Will I Be Loved" from hitting No. 1. The record was considered alongside "You're No Good" as Heart Like A Wheel's lead single.

6. Her First GRAMMY Win Goes Country

On the B-side of Ronstadt's No. 1 hit "You're No Good," a more dignified song by Hank Williams, "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)," showed the country side of her abilities, which won her Best Country Vocal Performance, Female at the 18th GRAMMY Awards. The woman singing angelic harmonies against Ronstadt on the album version is Emmylou Harris, who went on to win that same category at the 19th GRAMMY Awards for Elite Hotel. The two ladies joined with Dolly Parton at the 30th GRAMMY Awards to win Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal for their 1987 album Trio.

7. Powerhouses Behind The Scenes: James Taylor And Peter Asher

With so many legends around her during her ascent in music, Ronstadt was a magnet for the best. A close look at other GRAMMY winners associated with Heart Like A Wheel shows one name that already had one GRAMMY win and many more nominations going into the project, before her album turned so many people's careers for the better. James Taylor's lullaby "You Can Close Your Eyes" closes Heart Like A Wheel, and his star status was in a sense hovering over the album. Taylor won Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male at the 14th GRAMMY Awards for "You've Got A Friend," a huge success as a single, and its B-side was Taylor's lullaby.

It's also worth noting that Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor had also served as the background singers on Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" from Young's bestselling album of 1972, Harvest.

Heart Like A Wheel's producer Peter Asher had quit running A&R for the Beatles' Apple Records in order to manage Taylor just a few years earlier. By the mid-'70s, Taylor, with the help of Asher, was leading a powerful soft rock sound that grew mighty with Ronstadt and the Eagles' first wins and then spread, for example with Emmylou Harris' win the following year.

Other personnel on the album who went on to win GRAMMY Awards are singer Cissy Houston, mother of Whitney; instrumentalists John Boylan, Jimmie Fadden, Timothy B. Schmit, and John Starling; engineers Dennis Ferrante, Val Garay, and George Massenburg who also received the Technical GRAMMY Award in 1998. Two of Peter Asher's later wins were Producer Of The Year at the 20th and the 32nd GRAMMY Awards and he is credited with having a significant hand in crafting the California soft rock sound.

Reflecting on Linda Ronstadt's legacy and the tragic event of her voice being silenced by Parkinson's disease in 2013, The New Yorker wrote, "The sound of Ronstadt's voice — invincibility, bravery, emotion channeled into intelligence and art — is the sound of overcoming anything." For diehard fans and newcomers alike, Heart Like A Wheel remains some of her career's most compelling evidence of what makes Ronstadt so special.

"Space Oddity": 7 Facts About David Bowie's Cosmic Ballad | GRAMMY Hall Of Fame

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Foo Fighters

Photo: Lester Cohen/WireImage.com

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Foo Fighters, Norah Jones To Perform At Tom Petty MusiCares Tribute

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Gary Clark Jr., Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, and Kings Of Leon also among performers added to star-studded GRAMMY Week tribute to 2017 MusiCares Person of the Year Tom Petty
THE GRAMMYs
GRAMMYs
May 15, 2017 - 2:36 am

GRAMMY winners Gary Clark Jr., Foo Fighters, Don Henley, Norah Jones, Kings Of Leon, Jeff Lynne, Randy Newman, Stevie Nicks, George Strait, and Lucinda Williams will perform at the 2017 MusiCares Person of the Year tribute concert honoring Tom Petty on Feb. 10 in Los Angeles. GRAMMY-nominated singer/songwriters Jackson Browne, Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen, Elle King, and Regina Spektor; and rock band the Bangles will also join the performance lineup. Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers will close the evening's performances, and multi-GRAMMY-winning artist and producer T Bone Burnett will serve as musical director.

Petty will be honored as the 2017 MusiCares Person of the Year in celebration of his extraordinary creative accomplishments and significant charitable work. Proceeds from the 27th annual Person of the Year tribute provide essential support for MusiCares, which ensures music people have a place to turn in times of financial, medical and personal need.

The MusiCares Person of the Year tribute ceremony is one of the most prestigious events held during GRAMMY Week. The celebration culminates with the 59th Annual GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017. The telecast will be broadcast live on the CBS Television Network at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

GRAMMY winners from New York
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Lady Gaga to Jay Z: 9 GRAMMY winners from New York

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Christina Aguilera, Marc Anthony, Tony Bennett, and Barbra Streisand also make our list of multiple GRAMMY winners with roots in the host city of the 60th GRAMMY Awards
Tim McPhate
GRAMMYs
May 15, 2017 - 2:36 am

New York is home to Wall Street, the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, and Broadway. And on Jan. 28, 2018, the city will serve as the home for the 60th GRAMMY Awards. New York has also been called home by some of the biggest stars in entertainment. It's no wonder everyone from Liza Minnelli and Frank Sinatra to Jay Z say if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. Here's a list of nine GRAMMY-winning New Yorkers who did it their way. 

Christina Aguilera

Staten Island-born Christina Aguilera was a mainstay in New York City in the late '90s and early '00s as a frequent guest on MTV"s "Total Request Live," which listed her "Dirrty" as the show's fifth greatest video on its final countdown. A week after winning the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance GRAMMY with A Great Big World for "Say Something," the five-time GRAMMY winner returned to her home state for a New York-themed halftime performance at the 2015 NBA All-Star Game.  

Marc Anthony

Marc Anthony's East Harlem neighborhood has definitely impacted his career. "Being from New York, there was Latin music in the house and salsa coming out of my brother's room," Anthony told The Latin Recording Academy when he was named their 2016 Person of the Year. "I'd go out in the street and it was Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight and Aretha [Franklin]. I think I ended up being a melting pop of musical sensibilities." That melting pot has helped Anthony earn two GRAMMYs and five Latin GRAMMYs. 

Tony Bennett

Though he may have left his heart in San Francisco, Tony Bennett performed for the first time in 1946 at Shangri-La nightclub in Astoria, Queens, the city in which he was born. It was all uphill from there, with Bennett earning 18 GRAMMYs to date. Several of his career achievements have featured nods to his hometown, including GRAMMY nominations for 1990's Astoria: Portrait Of The Artist and 2001's "New York State Of Mind" (with Billy Joel), and 1994's Album Of The Year GRAMMY winner MTV Unplugged, which was recorded at New York's Sony Studios.

GRAMMYs

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Billy Joel - New York State Of Mind (from Live at Shea Stadium) ft. Tony Bennett

Mariah Carey

Despite telling Complex she was "dropped here" as a "fairyland experience," Mariah Carey was born in Long Island. She began singing and writing songs at Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, N.Y., and her resulting career has been anything but fantasy, including a 1990 Best New Artist GRAMMY, a GRAMMY nomination for 1992's MTV Unplugged EP, which was recorded in Astoria Studios in Queens, and, most recently, an infamous New Year's Eve performance in Times Square, to which the five-time GRAMMY-winning diva jokingly responded: "S*** happens."

Danger Mouse

Producer/engineer/mixer Danger Mouse told The New York Times he was influenced by fellow New Yorker and GRAMMY winner Woody Allen, whose films taught him to take a "director's role within music." So far that approach has worked for Danger Mouse, who was born in White Plains. He's earned six GRAMMYs, including wins for solo projects, as one-half of Gnarls Barkley and his production for Adele, the Black Keys and his Broken Bells project.

Jay Z

With 21 GRAMMY wins, Jay Z is one of the top GRAMMY winners of all time and the top hip-hop artist from New York. (He's just two wins behind the top GRAMMY-winning New Yorker, John Williams). The Brooklyn rapper's GRAMMY-winning catalog is peppered with references to his hometown. From "Numb/Encore" to "Empire State Of Mind," his chart-topping collaboration with fellow New Yorker Alicia Keys, Hova has good reason to claim he's the King of New York.

Top GRAMMY winners: Where does Jay Z rank?

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga once tweeted she'd "bleed for [her] hometown." Thus it's no surprise the six-time GRAMMY winner, born in Manhattan as Stefani Germanotta, made the city of New York the subject of her 2011 hit "Marry The Night," which is featured on her Album Of The Year -nominated chart-topper, Born This Way. "New York is not just a tan that you'll never lose," Gaga sings. The 13-minute-plus video was shot throughout the city and was described as a "nod to New York downtown refinement."

GRAMMYs

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Lady Gaga - Marry The Night (Official Video)

Chris Rock

From his stint on "Saturday Night Live" and his Brooklyn-based sitcom "Everybody Hates Chris" to his role as Pookie in 1991's New Jack City, Chris Rock is a New Yorker through and through. The South Carolina-born/Brooklyn-raised comedian can even be found sitting in the front row at Knicks games despite the team's inability to make the NBA Finals since 1999. Coincidentally, that was the same year Rock released his Best Spoken Comedy Album-winning Bigger And Blacker, which was recorded at Harlem's famed Apollo Theater.    

Barbra Streisand

New York has been good to Brooklyn native Barbra Streisand, beginning with her turn in the Broadway musicals "I Can Get It For You Wholesale" (1962) and "Funny Girl" (1964), the latter leading to her first Oscar win for her performance in the 1968 film adaptation. In 1963 she recorded her debut album, The Barbra Streisand Album, at Columbia's Studio A in New York City. It earned Babs an Album Of The Year GRAMMY, the first of eight GRAMMY wins, and launched a musical legacy that has resulted in GRAMMY Legend and Lifetime Achievement Awards.   

Another bite out of the Big Apple

In addition to the artists above, these 12 multiple-GRAMMY winners also hail from New York:

Beastie Boys
Mary J. Blige
Sean "Diddy" Combs
Billy Joel
Alicia Keys
Norah Jones
Cyndi Lauper
Al Schmitt
Simon & Garfunkel
Steely Dan
Hezekiah Walker
John Williams

Beastie Boys, Kiss and Billy Joel: 9 album covers shot in New York

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Some of the content on this site expresses viewpoints and opinions that are not those of the Recording Academy. Responsibility for the accuracy of information provided in stories not written by or specifically prepared for the Academy lies with the story's original source or writer. Content on this site does not reflect an endorsement or recommendation of any artist or music by the Recording Academy.