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Drake, Jay Z And Kiss Are In The Game

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Artists are assisting athletes and helping sports franchises build their brands and succeed beyond the scoreboard
Nick Krewen
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm

After the Boston Red Sox clinched the World Series at Fenway Park for the first time since 1918 this past October, all eyes in Major League Baseball seemingly switched to the issue of free agency, and particularly, Robinson Cano.

Cano, the New York Yankees' starting second baseman since 2005, requested a 10-year, $310 million contract to remain in pinstripes and then jumped to the Seattle Mariners for a 10-year, $240 million pact, is arguably the off-season's biggest story. But the more intriguing tale may belong to the behind-the-scenes negotiator who helped seal the deal: Jay Z.

The 19-time GRAMMY winner's reputation as a business mogul almost equals his standing as one of rap music's most successful artists. In addition to his multi-platinum recording career and lucrative concert tours, Jay Z's full-service entertainment company Roc Nation and various other ventures — ranging from his first men's fragrance (Gold Jay Z) to a since-sold stake in Barclays Center — have inflated his personal net worth to a reported $500 million.

Professional sports is the latest domain Jay Z has conquered, and since launching Roc Nation Sports with partner Creative Artists Agency in 2013 and being certified as a licensed NBA and MLB agent, he's signed a high-profile athlete roster that includes Cano (co-represented by Creative Artists Agency Sports); New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith; Oklahoma City Thunder all-star Kevin Durant; WNBA Tulsa Shock sensation Skylar Diggins; New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz; and Cano's former teammate, Yankees all-star pitcher CC Sabathia.

This isn't his first brush with sports: In 2003 Jay Z bought a minority share of the then-New Jersey Nets, and sold it last year after helping to instigate and oversee the team's relocation to Brooklyn, N.Y.

And Jay Z is not the only high-profile music figure expanding into professional sports ventures.

In September 2013 Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment CEO (and former AEG President/CEO) Tim Leiweke appointed Aubrey "Drake" Graham as the NBA Toronto Raptors' new "global ambassador." The rapper's role will include helping re-brand the team and advising on everything from changing the uniform color scheme to creating a new Raptors logo in time for the 2015–2016 season.

The association has already made an impact. At a sold-out "Drake Night"-themed Raptors game in January, the GRAMMY winner handed out free specially designed limited-edition T-shirts to members of the crowd (19,800 in attendance) and introduced the team's starting lineup.

As the celebrity face of the Raptors, Drake is also expected to draw mass media attention to the 2016 NBA All-Star Game, which will be held in Toronto for the first time.

"I've supported the franchise through our ups and downs," said Drake in a 2013 ESPN report. "More than anything, I'm a Toronto guy. I'm a city guy. I care about the city more than anything in the world."

Even 2014 Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame inductees Kiss are getting into the game. In 2013 frontmen Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons became co-owners of L.A. Kiss, an Arena Football League franchise that will kick off its inaugural season March 15. The duo have had a hand in everything from designing the team's uniform to lending ideas for promotion and branding and consulting about the team's operations and personnel.

Whether it's ownership, participation (remember country superstar Garth Brooks' spring training runs with the San Diego Padres and New York Mets?) or consulting, the cross-pollination between music and sports has always fostered a healthy respect between members of each profession.

However, Paul Palmer Jr. II, a marketing professor and lecturer at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, suggests that these latest moves may be borne of ego, risk and necessity.

In the case of Jay Z, it's a new frontier.

"For musicians and entertainers, there's an evolution and an overlap that's occurring," says Palmer. "You have people who have grown up in a specific arena with a specific talent. Many of them realize, 'I can be a $5 million performer here,'  or 'I can expand and encompass much more than what I do. I want to broaden my appeal to either more consumers or more vehicles and venues to reach consumers.

"'And what if I go from just being the person who provides talent to someone who can actually evaluate, discover, refine, and produce other talent?' That's the lucrative part of the business. That's where it advances beyond being a single person to being someone who is more evergreen, more universal and [has] longer staying power above and beyond just being a piece of entertainment."

With Drake — and Jay Z's earlier role with the Brooklyn Nets before he was forced to relinquish his interest due to his entrance into the sports agency business — it may very well be about survival.

"Teams that engage music celebrities get a significant amount of value," says Palmer.

"If you look at Forbes, you'll see that MLB has about $7 billion a year in revenue; NFL's about $9 billion; NBA's about $3.7 billion; and the NHL's about $3.4 billion. Those four sports are worth about $21 billion in revenue.

"In this tough economic market, there is intense competition for the entertainment dollar, the discretionary funds that we hope sit in all of our wallets. Attendance in the major leagues has been flat to declining. Attendance in the NFL has been down 3 to 4 percent annually since 2007, the all-time high. All those fannies in seats, those are dollars — they're not just the price of a ticket, but include the concessions, parking [and] apparel. You're not just missing the revenue of that seat that sits empty. You're missing the revenue potential of all those extras."

Palmer, whose 20-year background includes executive marketing positions at Hasbro Toys, American Greetings and the Procter & Gamble Company, says celebrity association "breathes life into your franchise when you partner with those type of celebrities.

"Sports today has moved beyond what happens between the lines or what's on the scoreboard," he explains. "It's about building brands and connecting brands with consumers. People like Jay Z and Drake understand how to do that. They have a creative approach with connecting with — and growing — their consumer bases. They've had to do it to evolve their business models all the time: broaden their conscience; broaden their media vehicles, and that's something that current sports has struggled with recently."

Taking social media into account, Palmer feels the sky is the limit in terms of music celebrity partnerships with sports franchises.

"I think Drake has around [14.4] million followers, and remember, all those followers are potential consumers," says Palmer. "If I'm owner of the Raptors or any sports team, I've got to consider listening to someone who has been able to get [millions of] people to follow their every move daily in 140 characters or less."

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

GRAMMYs
Feature

How Hip-Hop And R&B Crushed Their Competition: Can Rock Bounce Back?

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Chart success, streaming, GRAMMYs and smashing guitars — how the R&B and hip-hop genres beat rock at its own game
Kathy Landoli
GRAMMYs
Feb 19, 2018 - 2:20 pm

There was a time in the not so distant past when hip-hop was likened to disco. A flash in the pan genre defined by its hyperbolic expression of sound and style, disco fizzled out in the early '80s once the fashion and sonic trends attached to it expired.

Hip-hop was presumably following in its footsteps, especially when so many break records were layered with disco samples to create the early framework of hip-hop's sound — think the Sugarhill Gang's 1979 hit "Rapper's Delight" (GRAMMY Hall Of Fame, 2014), which sampled Chic's 1979 No. 1 smash, "Good Times."

But hip-hop persevered and brought with it an evolution of the R&B genre as well. Combined, the two genres became unstoppable, eclipsing a flimsy stigma of being confined to an "urban" box. Now, four and a half decades since hip-hop's inception, the genre has seemingly taken the music industry over along with R&B, beating rock at its own game. How did we get here?

Theoretically, the move has been gradual, though 2017 marked a quantifiable shift leaning in hip-hop and R&B's favor. First, there are the sales figures: Hip-hop and R&B accounted for 25 percent of music consumption in 2017, with rock trailing at 23 percent. Add to that an uptick in audio streaming in 2017 by 72 percent — with 29 percent of music streamed online being hip-hop and R&B combined, matching rock and pop, which also combined for 29 percent of music streamed online. The two previously gigantic leaders in major genres are now neck-and-neck with the "underdogs" of R&B and hip-hop.

But per Nielsen's 2017 year-end report, eight of the top 10 albums were, in fact, hip-hop or R&B albums, including Drake and Kendrick Lamar for More Life and DAMN., respectively. Meanwhile, Drake and Lamar held down the top two spots on the list of most popular artists based on total consumption (sales and streaming), while Bruno Mars, Eminem, Future, The Weeknd, and Lil Uzi Vert were also among the other artists that proved hip-hop and R&B were the most widely consumed collective genres this past year.

The 60th GRAMMY Awards further punctuated that claim, as artists like Jay-Z and SZA found homes in the General Four categories, with Mars — who earned Record, Album and Song Of The Year — and Lamar sweeping wins across the board.

Watch: Bruno Mars Wins Album Of The Year

Phrases like "the death of rock and roll" have been continually tossed around since this cycle of news arrived. The latest strike against rock came when Coachella announced that for the first time in its 19-year existence there wouldn't be a rock act headlining the festival. The three headliners for the 2018 installment will be Beyoncé, Eminem and The Weeknd.

"I think it speaks to the strength of the music and the strength of the fan base," explains Jeriel Johnson, Executive Director of the Recording Academy Washington, D.C. Chapter. "The fans dictate who shows up on those stages."

While the 2017 tallies may suggest that sales and streams have finally caught up, industry insiders have seen the trends shifting over the last 5 to 10 years.

"Now so, even more than ever, music can be created and put out so much more quickly so when something is happening, urban music is reflecting that really quickly."

"R&B and hip-hop have always had a huge influence and impact on our culture, regardless of the time period — from fashion to slang to our tastes in music [and] cars," says GRAMMY-nominated producer Harvey Mason Jr.

However, with rap artists growing into cross-cultural icons, hip-hop poured into rock and vice versa.

"I immediately think of artists like Run-DMC, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Kid Cudi. These are a few of the pioneers who helped lay down the foundation for artists like Post Malone, Lil Uzi, [the late] Lil Peep, and Lil Pump to become the new generation of artists to continue the push forward the borders of hip-hop," explains Matthew Bernal manager of media for Republic Records. "From their trend-setting fashion, genre-bending sounds and riot-like live performances, millennials grew up watching these icons and the influence is clear in their music today."

Artists such as Rae Sremmurd, who released the groundbreaking "Black Beatles" with Gucci Mane in 2016, extended that aesthetic — the music video for the hit single showed the duo breaking TV sets with electric guitars.

Behind the song: Post Malone's "Congratulations"

"Post Malone's 'Rockstar,' which was the No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 for eight consecutive weeks last year, is a strong indication of how today's hip-hop artists view themselves: as rock stars," continues Bernal.

"Urban culture is the new rock," adds GRAMMY-winning producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins. "[In] every era there's a change that takes place, and right now Migos, Kendrick Lamar — they're the new rock stars."

"I feel like it was bound to happen," says Nicole Johnson, industry relations at music streaming service Pandora. "Back in the day, rock and roll was started by an urban genre and urban people. But then it became 'sex, drugs, and rock and roll' and, now, isn't that what these hip-hop [artists] are now talking about? Here are rappers just living their best lives, being themselves, tattooing their faces if they feel like it, wearing dresses on the cover of their album if they feel like it. It's all about self-expression."

Johnson adds that Pandora's Next Big Sound has been driven by hip-hop and R&B as of late, leading to the service's launch of the weekly urban station, The Sauce. "There are now so many [sub]genres within hip-hop, of course, it's gonna take over.”

But in the wake of hip-hop and R&B's takeover, so was the digital boom. Urban music jumped onboard streaming services early, with platforms like SoundCloud birthing its own scene, SoundCloud rap, which has given way to artists such as Chance The Rapper and Rico Nasty who have equally dominated the space as other hip-hop artists.

"I think R&B/hip-hop is benefitting from changes in technology," says Mason, underscoring how today's fast turnaround in music creation has placed hip-hop and R&B at a unique vantage point, especially when it comes to topical music. "R&B and hip-hop really seem to have their ear to the ground culturally and in society with everything our country is going through.

"It just seems to be such a transparent outlet for people with feelings and opinions, and now so, even more than ever, music can be created and put out so much more quickly so when something is happening, urban music is reflecting that really quickly."

So where will we go from here? Is rock really fading away? And, if so, can it come back? While the cyclical nature of music would reflect an inevitable return, perhaps rock will have to once again evolve the way hip-hop and R&B had to in order to rise up.

"It'll rebound in a different kind of way, I believe," says Jerkins. "Someone will come along and do it in a newer and cooler way. But right now? Hip-hop, R&B — that's pop. Because pop music is anything that's popular."

(Kathy Iandoli has penned pieces for Pitchfork, VICE, Maxim, O, Cosmopolitan, The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Billboard, and more. She co-authored the book Commissary Kitchen with Mobb Deep's late Albert "Prodigy" Johnson, and is a professor of music business at select universities throughout New York and New Jersey.)

59th GRAMMY Awards nominees in 2017
List

Beatles to Jack White: 59 reasons to watch the 59th GRAMMYs

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From Beyoncé, Rihanna and Adele to Justin Bieber, Chance The Rapper, Drake, and Kanye West, here are 59 storylines to follow
Tim McPhate
GRAMMYs
May 15, 2017 - 2:36 am

You've seen the official 59th GRAMMY nominations list, but do you really know the nominees? In case you're not sure, we've dissected the categories to bring you 59 must-know factoids about this year's nominations class. While these facts won't help you predict the winners, they're certain to impress your friends at your GRAMMY viewing party. Read all 59 facts below and be sure to follow your favorite artists on Music's Biggest Night.
 

1. Beyoncé

Beyoncé received nine GRAMMY nominations this year, more than any other artist. She now has 62 career nominations, extending her lead as the most-nominated female artist in GRAMMY history.

2. Lukas Graham

Lukas Graham's "7 Years" is nominated for Record Of The Year. The Danish group is just the second group or duo from continental Europe to receive a nomination in this category. The first was Daft Punk. The French duo won three years ago for "Get Lucky" (featuring Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers).

3. Rihanna

Rihanna received her third Record Of The Year nomination for "Work" (featuring Drake). All three of these nominations are for collaborations. Rihanna was previously nominated for "Umbrella" (featuring Jay Z) and Eminem's "Love The Way You Lie" (on which she was featured).

4. Beyoncé

Beyoncé landed her fifth Record Of The Year nomination with "Formation." (This counts "Say My Name," which she recorded as a member of Destiny's Child.) This puts her in a tie with Barbra Streisand as the woman with the most career nominations in this category.

5. Adele

Adele's 25 is nominated for Album Of The Year. The singer's previous album, 21, won in this category five years ago. This is the first time an artist's follow-up to an Album Of The Year winner has been nominated in this category since Bob Dylan's Love And Theft (the follow-up to Time Out Of Mind) was a 2001 nominee.

6. Justin Bieber, Drake

Canadians Justin Bieber and Drake are among the nominees for Album Of The Year for Purpose and Views, respectively. Bieber, from London, Ontario, and Drake, from Toronto, are each vying to become the first Canadian solo artist in 20 years to win the category. Celine Dion won for Falling Into You for 1996.

7. Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd

Kendrick Lamar and The Weeknd, who were nominated for Album Of The Year last year for their albums To Pimp A Butterfly and Beauty Behind The Madness, respectively, are nominated in the same category this year as featured artists on Beyoncé's Lemonade.

8. Sturgill Simpson

Sturgill Simpson's A Sailor's Guide To Earth is nominated for both Album Of The Year and Best Country Album. Simpson produced his album. It's the first entirely self-produced album to receive an Album Of The Year nomination since 2014, when two such albums — Beck's Morning Phase and Pharrell Williams' Girl — were nominated.

9. "Hello"

"Hello," which Adele co-wrote with Greg Kurstin, is nominated for Song Of The Year. A different song with the same title, by Lionel Richie, was nominated in this category 32 years ago. This marks the first time in GRAMMY history that two different songs with the same title have been nominated in this category.

10. "I Took A Pill In Ibiza"

Mike Posner's "I Took A Pill In Ibiza" is nominated for Song Of The Year. Posner wrote the song. It's vying to become the first song written by a single songwriter to win in this category since Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" (2007).

11. Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran is looking to become the first songwriter in GRAMMY history to win Song Of The Year two years in a row. Sheeran won in this category last year for "Thinking Out Loud" (which he co-wrote with Amy Wadge). He's nominated this year for "Love Yourself" (which he co-wrote with Justin Bieber and Benjamin Levin aka Benny Blanco).

12. Kelsea Ballerini, Maren Morris

Kelsea Ballerini and Maren Morris are both nominated for Best New Artist. This marks the first time in GRAMMY history that two country artists have received nominations in this category in the same year.

13. The Chainsmokers

The Chainsmokers are only the second electronic dance music artist to receive a Best New Artist nomination. Skrillex, a 2011 nominee, was the first.

14. Chance The Rapper

Chance The Rapper is nominated for Best New Artist. The rapper, 23, wasn't even born in 1989 when Tone Loc became the first rap artist to receive a nomination in this category.

15. Anderson .Paak

Anderson .Paak is nominated for both Best New Artist and Best Urban Contemporary Album for Malibu. He is the first artist to be nominated for both of these awards in the same year since Frank Ocean four years ago. (Ocean's Channel Orange won Best Urban Contemporary Album.)

16. Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for the second year in a row. The rock legend is nominated for Fallen Angels. Dylan is the fourth GRAMMY nominee to have won a Nobel Prize. The other three are Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama and Toni Morrison.

17. Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson received his third nomination in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category. The country legend is nominated for Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin. Nelson was previously nominated for Moonlight Becomes You (1994) and American Classic (2009).

18. Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand could win her first GRAMMY in 30 years. The star is nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway. Her most recent GRAMMY win was for her first Broadway collection, The Broadway Album, which won for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female (1986).

19. Best Pop Vocal Album

For the first time in 11 years, female solo artists take four of the five nominations for Best Pop Vocal Album. Adele, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, and Sia are nominated alongside Justin Bieber.

20. Herb Alpert

Herb Alpert is among the nominees for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for Human Nature. (The title track is the John Bettis/Steve Porcaro song made famous by Michael Jackson.) Alpert received his first GRAMMY nominations (and awards) for 1965 for his work with the Tijuana Brass. 

21. Jack White

Jack White, who is nominated for three GRAMMYs this year, will be honored for his contributions "behind the glass" at the Producers & Engineers Wing's annual GRAMMY Week celebration on Feb. 8, 2017. White is nominated for Album Of The Year as one of the featured artists and producers on Beyoncé's Lemonade; Best Rock Performance for "Don't Hurt Yourself" with Beyoncé (her first nomination in a Rock Field); and Best American Roots Song for "City Lights."

22. Best Rock Performance

Two of this year's nominees for Best Rock Performance were recorded live on television programs. Alabama Shakes' "Joe" was recorded for the PBS series "Austin City Limits." Disturbed's version of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound Of Silence" was recorded on TBS' "Conan."

23. Megadeth

The title track from Megadeth's album, Dystopia, is among the nominees for Best Metal Performance. This is the band's 12th nomination in this category (including nominations in the discontinued Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance category). The band is seeking to win their first GRAMMY.

24. Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop earned his first nomination since 1988: Best Alternative Music Album for Post Pop Depression. In 2016 Pop appeared at the GRAMMY Museum at L.A. Live for a wide-ranging talk with Josh Homme as part of the Museum’s A Conversation With series.

25. Radiohead

Radiohead are vying to become the first four-time winner for Best Alternative Music Album. The band is nominated for A Moon Shaped Pool. Radiohead won in this category for OK Computer (1997), Kid A (2000) and In Rainbows (2008). Radiohead are currently tied with the White Stripes as the only three-time winners in the category.

26. Solange

Solange's "Cranes In The Sky" is nominated for Best R&B Performance, marking her first career nomination. Solange's older sister, Beyoncé, has won nine of her 20 GRAMMYs to date in R&B performance categories.

27. Rihanna

Rihanna is vying to become the first repeat winner in the Best Urban Contemporary Album category (which dates to 2012). Her album Anti is nominated this year. Unapologetic won three years ago.

28. Jay Z, Kanye West

The Throne aka Jay Z and Kanye West are nominated for Best Rap Performance with Drake for "Pop Style." If they win, it would be their eighth collaboration to score a GRAMMY. Their previous wins together are "Swagga Like Us," "Run This Town" (which won two GRAMMYs), "Otis," "N****s In Paris" (which won two GRAMMYs), and "Church In The Wild."

29. Drake

Drake's "Hotline Bling" is nominated for Best Rap/Sung Performance. The category was formerly known as Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. The change was made to expand the category beyond collaborations between rappers and vocalists to include recordings by a solo artist who blurs the lines between rapping and singing. Drake is the first beneficiary of that change.

30. De La Soul

De La Soul's Best Rap Album-nominated And The Anonymous Nobody, which they crowdfunded via Kickstarter, is looking to become the first crowdfunded album to win the category. De La Soul were first nominated for a 1989 GRAMMY for Best Rap Performance.

31. Kanye West

Kanye West's The Life Of Pablo is nominated for Best Rap Album. West is a four-time winner in this category. Only Eminem has received more awards (six) in the category.

32. Best Country Duo/Group Performance

Three pop or rock artists are nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. Elle King is nominated as a featured artist on Dierks Bentley's "Different For Girls." P!nk is nominated as Kenny Chesney's duet partner on "Setting The World On Fire." Pentatonix are nominated for their rendition of Dolly Parton's "Jolene," which features Parton.

33. Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton is nominated with Pentatonix for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for "Jolene." A master of collaborations, this is Parton's 18th GRAMMY nomination for recordings in conjunction with other artists. Collaborators over the years have included Norah Jones, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris, and Kenny Rogers.

34. Loretta Lynn

Loretta Lynn is among the nominees for Best Country Album for Full Circle. She won in this category 12 years ago with Van Lear Rose. If she wins again, she'll become the first female solo artist to win in this category twice. Lynn, 84, received her first GRAMMY nomination 50 years ago for "Don't Come Home A Drinkin'."

35. Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna

Hillary Lindsey and Lori McKenna, who collaborated (along with Liz Rose) on "Girl Crush," last year's winner for Best Country Song, are competing against each other in the category this year. Lindsey is nominated for co-writing the Keith Urban hit "Blue Ain't Your Color." McKenna is nominated for writing the Tim McGraw hit "Humble And Kind." If either woman wins this year, she would become the first songwriter to win back-to-back awards in this category since Robert John "Mutt" Lange and Shania Twain won for "You're Still The One" (1998) and "Come On Over" (1999).

36. Shirley Caesar

With her two nominations for Best Gospel Performance/Song and Best Gospel Album, Shirley Caesar is looking to add to her 11 career GRAMMYs, which is the highest total for a female gospel artist. Caesar is among the 2017 recipients of The Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award.

37. Kirk Franklin

Kirk Franklin could become the first artist to win twice in the Best Gospel Album category (which dates to 2011). Franklin won the 2011 award for Hello Fear. He is nominated this year for Losing My Religion.

38. Hillary Scott

Hillary Scott, who has won seven GRAMMYs as a member of Lady Antebellum, is nominated for two awards for a family project (Hillary Scott & The Scott Family). Love Remains is nominated for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album. "Thy Will," a track from the album, is nominated for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song.

39. Joey+Rory

Joey+Rory's Hymns is among the nominees for Best Roots Gospel Album. The duo received their first career nomination last year for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. Joey Martin Feek, the female half of this married couple, died on March 4, 2016.

40. Vince Gill

Vince Gill's "Kid Sister" is nominated for Best American Roots Song. Gill has won two of his 20 GRAMMY Awards to date for songwriting. "I Still Believe In You" (1992) and "Go Rest High On That Mountain" (1995) were both voted Best Country Song.

41. William Bell

Stax Records veteran William Bell, whose R&B hits date to 1966, is nominated for two GRAMMYs. This Is Where I Live is nominated for Best Americana Album. "The Three Of Me," a track from the album, is nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance. Bell wouldn't be the first R&B veteran to win for Best Americana Album. Mavis Staples took the 2010 award for You Are Not Alone.

42. Judy Collins

Judy Collins is nominated for Best Folk Album for Silver Skies Blue, a collaboration with Ari Hest. Collins received her first GRAMMY nomination 53 years ago for her album, Judy Collins #3. It was nominated for Best Folk Recording.

43. Ziggy Marley

Ziggy Marley is vying to win his seventh GRAMMY in the Best Reggae Album category for his album Ziggy Marley. Marley won his first three awards in the category for albums on which he fronted Ziggy Marley And The Melody Makers.

44. Anoushka Shankar

Anoushka Shankar is among the nominees for Best World Music Album for Land Of Gold. Shankar's late father, Ravi Shankar, won twice in this category, for Full Circle: Carnegie Hall 2000 (2001) and The Living Room Sessions (2012). This is Anoushka Shankar's sixth nomination in this category (counting one in the discontinued Best Contemporary World Music Album category).

45. Patti Smith

Punk-rock poet Patti Smith is nominated for Best Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books & Storytelling) for the second year in a row. She is nominated this year for M Train. She was nominated last year for Blood On Snow. This would be Smith's first GRAMMY win.

46. Best Comedy Album

Three of the five nominees for Best Comedy Album — Margaret Cho's American Myth, Tig Notaro's Boyish Girl Interrupted and Amy Schumer's Live At The Apollo — are by female performers. This is the first time that female performers have accounted for three of the nominees in the history of this category (which goes back to 1958, the first year of the GRAMMY Awards).

47. Kinky Boots

The Original West End Cast Album from Kinky Boots is nominated for Best Musical Theater Album. The Broadway cast album from the show won in this category three years ago. Kinky Boots is vying to become the fourth show to win twice in this category (with two different recordings of the score). The first three were Gypsy, West Side Story and Les Misérables.

48. Steve Martin, Edie Brickell

The Original Broadway Cast album to Bright Star is among the finalists for Best Musical Theater Album. Steve Martin and Edie Brickell collaborated on the score. The two musicians won a GRAMMY three years ago for Best American Roots Song for "Love Has Come For You."

49. Amy

The soundtrack to Amy, a film about the late Amy Winehouse, is nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media. The film itself won a GRAMMY last year for Best Music Film. A win this year would mark the first time a film and its companion soundtrack each won in their category.

50. Straight Outta Compton

The soundtrack to the hit film Straight Outta Compton is a nominee for Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media. The nomination comes in the same year that N.W.A's landmark 1988 album of the same name is inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame.

51. "Vinyl"

Vinyl: The Essentials Season 1, featuring music from the HBO series, is nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media. It's vying to become the second TV soundtrack to win in this category, following Boardwalk Empire, Volume 1, which won five years ago. Boardwalk Empire was also a HBO series.

52. John Williams

John Williams, one of the top winners in GRAMMY history, received his 66th career GRAMMY nomination for Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Williams has now received nominations for six of the seven Star Wars films he has scored. (The lone film in the franchise he did not receive a nod for was 2002's Star Wars: Episode II — Attack Of The Clones.)

53. "Stranger Things"

Both Stranger Things Volume 1 and Stranger Things Volume 2 — composed by Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein — are nominated for Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media. This is the first time in the category's history two albums from the same TV series have been nominated.

54. Ryuichi Sakamoto, The Revenant

The Revenant, composed by Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto, is nominated for Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media. Sakamoto won in this category 28 years ago for The Last Emperor, which he composed with Cong Su and David Byrne.

55. Suicide Squad

Two songs from the film Suicide Squad are nominated for Best Song Written For Visual Media. They are "Heathens" (Tyler Joseph, songwriter) and "Purple Lamborghini" (Shamann Cooke, Skrillex & Rick Ross, songwriters). Last year, two songs from Fifty Shades Of Grey were nominated in this category.

56. Max Martin

Max Martin is nominated for Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical. The Swedish hit-maker won in this category two years ago. If he wins again this year, he'll become the first producer to win twice in the space of three years since Rick Rubin, who won the 2006 and 2008 awards.

57. Judith Sherman

Judith Sherman could win Producer Of The Year, Classical for the third year in a row. To date, only one producer has won this award three years running. Robert Woods won for 1987, 1988 and 1989.

58. The Beatles

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week The Touring Years is vying for Best Music Film. It would be the third Beatles-related film to win in this category (or its predecessor category, Best Music Video, Long Form). The Beatles Anthology won the 1996 award. The Beatles Love—All Together Now won the 2009 award.

59. Special Merit Awards

Current nominees Herb Alpert, Blind Boys Of Alabama, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn, Ennio Morricone, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, and Barbra Streisand have been previously honored by The Recording Academy with Special Merit Awards. (Lifetime Achievement Award: Blind Boys Of Alabama, Bowie, Dylan, Kristofferson, Lynn, Nelson, Parton, and Streisand.; Trustees Award: Alpert and Morricone).

The 59th GRAMMY Awards will take place Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017, live from Staples Center in Los Angeles and broadcast on the CBS Television Network from 8–11:30 pm ET/5–8:30 pm PT. Follow Recording Academy/GRAMMYs on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and use #GRAMMYs to join the conversation.

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Inside 57th GRAMMY-Nominated Collaborations

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A look at a sampling of current GRAMMY-nominated pairings, including Beyoncé and Jay Z; Disclosure and Mary J. Blige; and Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood, among others
THE GRAMMYs
GRAMMYs
Jan 28, 2015 - 11:58 am

Whether they came together to profess their love or combined forces to stir up some trouble, several 57th GRAMMY-nominated artists proved that two — and sometimes three ­— are better than one. The collaborations garnering current GRAMMY nominations include GRAMMY veterans, first-time GRAMMY nominees and cross-genre pairings, all of which yielded some of 2014's brightest music moments.

Ahead of Music's Biggest Night, which promises to feature even more fabulous pairings live on the GRAMMY stage, we explore 10 collaborative tracks that garnered 57th GRAMMY nominations.

Iggy Azalea Featuring Charli XCX, "Fancy"
Named Billboard's Song of the Summer for 2014, "Fancy" features a pair of first-time GRAMMY nominees in Australian rapper Iggy Azalea and British dance/pop artist Charli XCX. The certified quadruple-platinum smash was the first No. 1 single for either performer and is nominated for Record Of The Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Azalea is also nominated for Best New Artist and Best Rap Album for The New Classic. The video for "Fancy" pays homage to the popular 1995 teen comedy Clueless — can you name the characters Azalea and Charli XCX portray?

GRAMMYs

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Iggy Azalea - Fancy (Explicit) ft. Charli XCX

Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj, "Bang Bang"
In a GRAMMY.com interview in 2014, first-time GRAMMY nominee Jessie J described "Bang Bang" as "fun, independent [and] strong." Coincidentally, those same words can be used to describe the London native and the two other women behind this Best Pop/Duo Group Performance-nominated hit — first-time GRAMMY nominee Ariana Grande, who received a Best Pop Vocal Album nod for her debut album, My Everything, and rapper Nicki Minaj, who garnered her first Best Rap Song nomination for "Anaconda." "Bang Bang" literally dented the charts with a bang, climbing to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

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Jessie J, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj - Bang Bang ft. Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj

Katy Perry Featuring Juicy J, "Dark Horse"
"Dark Horse" earned Katy Perry her ninth No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit. The song is featured on Perry's Prism, which is nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album. The collaboration earned Oscar winner and Three 6 Mafia alumnus Juicy J (born Jordan Michael Houston) his first career GRAMMY nomination. With her two 57th GRAMMY nominations, Perry now has 13 in her career. Will she garner her first career win?

GRAMMYs

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Katy Perry - Dark Horse (Official) ft. Juicy J

Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga, "Anything Goes"
Plucked from the Great American Songbook, "Anything Goes" is the first single from Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga's collaborative pop classics album, Cheek To Cheek, which earned the pair a GRAMMY nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. When Bennett first recorded this Cole Porter-penned standard with Count Basie in 1959, Lady Gaga had yet to be "born this way." In fact, the Fame Monster wouldn't be introduced to the track until she was 13 years old. Cheek To Cheek earned Gaga her 16th GRAMMY nomination. This is the 33rd nomination for Bennett, who leads the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category with 11 GRAMMY wins.

GRAMMYs

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Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga - Anything Goes (Studio Video)

Disclosure Featuring Mary J. Blige, "F For You"
Disclosure, comprising brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence, teamed with Mary J. Blige for a remix of "F For You," which received a nomination for Best Dance Recording. The original "F For You" track is featured on Disclosure's debut studio album, 2013's Settle, which garnered the duo their first career GRAMMY nomination last year for Best Dance/Electronica Album. Blige is looking to win her 10th career GRAMMY, and her first in the Dance/Electronica Field. She has previously won nine GRAMMYs in four distinct genres: R&B, rap, pop, and gospel.

GRAMMYs

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Disclosure - F For You ft. Mary J. Blige

Röyksopp & Robyn, "Do It Again"
Norwegian electronic music duo Röyksopp and Swedish dance/electronic artist Robyn have done it again — this time earning a GRAMMY nomination for one of their hit collaborations. Nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album, Do It Again peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard 200 and features five songs, including the title track and "Monument." This marks the first nomination for Röyksopp and the fifth for Robyn, who was nominated previously in this category for 2011 for Body Talk, Pt. 3. The trio previously collaborated on 2009's "The Girl And The Robot."

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Röyksopp, Robyn - Do It Again

Beyoncé Featuring Jay Z, "Drunk In Love"
Beyoncé earned two of her six total GRAMMY nominations this year for this duet with hubby Jay Z, which marks the couple's fourth collaboration to earn a nomination. The song, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, is nominated for Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance, and is featured on Beyoncé's 2013 self-titled album, which is also nominated for Album Of The Year. With 53 total nominations, Beyoncé stands as the most nominated female artist in GRAMMY history. Jay Z has four total nominations this year, including Best Music Film for Beyoncé & Jay Z: On The Run Tour, bringing his total to 64. With 17 GRAMMY wins to date each, Beyoncé and Jay Z are vying to overcome Kanye West for the most GRAMMY wins in the 21st century.

GRAMMYs

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Beyoncé - Drunk in Love (Explicit) ft. JAY Z

I Love Makonnen Featuring Drake, "Tuesday"
In 2014 first-time GRAMMY nominee I Love Makonnen (born Makonnen Sheran) released his self-titled EP featuring the track "Club Goin' Up On A Tuesday." The single caught the attention of GRAMMY-winning rapper Drake, who requested to remix the song and the rest … is viral history. In addition to receiving a GRAMMY nomination for Best Rap Sung/Collaboration, "Tuesday" has garnered approximately 46 million views on YouTube to date and netted I Love Makonnen a deal with Drake's label, OVO Sound. The Top 15 hit isn't Drake's first GRAMMY-nominated collaboration. He earned two 2011 nods for Best Rap Sung/Collaboration for "I'm On One" (with DJ Khaled, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne) and "What's My Name?" (with Rihanna).

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ILOVEMAKONNEN (FEAT. DRAKE) - TUESDAY

Miranda Lambert With Carrie Underwood, "Somethin' Bad"
With its nomination for Best Country Duo/Group Performance, "Somethin' Bad" has resulted in somethin' good for GRAMMY winners Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood. In the video for the song, which peaked at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100, Lambert and Underwood portray Belle Boyd and Priscilla Parker, a pair of motorcycle-riding jewel thieves. Lambert has four total 57th GRAMMY nominations, including Best Country Album for Platinum. Underwood also received a nod for Best Country Solo Performance for "Something In The Water."

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Miranda Lambert - Somethin' Bad ft. Carrie Underwood

Gregg Allman & Taj Mahal, "Statesboro Blues"
Nominated for Best American Roots Performance, "Statesboro Blues" is featured on All My Friends: Celebrating The Songs & Voice Of Gregg Allman. The live album was recorded on Jan. 10, 2014, during a concert in Atlanta that featured several artists — including fellow current nominees Keb' Mo' and Eric Church — paying tribute to the Allman Brothers Band co-founder. This marks the ninth career GRAMMY nomination for Allman and the 13th for blues musician Taj Mahal, who is slated to perform at the 2015 MusiCares Person of the Year tribute to Bob Dylan during GRAMMY Week on Feb. 6.

GRAMMYs

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"Statesboro Blues" with Taj Mahal and Gregg Allman

To see what other collaborations garnered nominations, view the full list of 57th GRAMMY nominees. Music's Biggest Night will take place live on Sunday, Feb. 8 at Staples Center in Los Angeles and will be broadcast in high-definition TV and 5.1 surround sound on the CBS Television Network from 8–11:30 p.m. (ET/PT).

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GRAMMY Insider: Beastie Boys, Beyoncé, Nirvana, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams

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All the GRAMMY winners news, including iTune's list of the best-selling music of 2013
Crystal Larsen
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm

(The GRAMMY Insider keeps you up to date about news on your favorite GRAMMY winners, including information about new album releases, tour updates, notable media appearances, interviews, and more.)

Lists
Current GRAMMY nominee Justin Timberlake reigned supreme on iTunes' best-sellers of 2013 list, earning Artist of the Year and the top-selling album honor with The 20/20 Experience. Current GRAMMY nominees Kendrick Lamar, Lorde and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis also made this list for Breakthrough Album (Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City), Song of the Year ("Royals") and Album of the Year (The Heist), respectively. For more lists, visit GRAMMY.com's List Blog.

Rock Hall
GRAMMY winners Peter Gabriel, Nirvana and Linda Ronstadt, GRAMMY nominees Hall And Oates and Kiss, and Cat Stevens are the performer inductees in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's class of 2014. Additional inductees are former Beatles manager Brian Epstein and producer/manager Andrew Loog Oldham, who will receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award, and the E Street Band, who will be recognized with the Award for Musical Excellence.

New York
Beastie Boys fans are fighting for their right to sabotage the corner of Ludlow Street and Rivington Street in New York. According to a report, a petition has been launched to honor the Beastie Boys by naming the intersection where the cover of the GRAMMY-winning trio's 1989 album Paul's Boutique was shot, "Beastie Boys Square." In this case, there will be no sleep till the Lower East Side.

New Music
Current GRAMMY nominee Pharrell Williams is scheduled to release his first solo album in eight years in 2014. The set will reportedly feature the track "Happy" from Despicable Me 2, for which Williams created the first-ever 24-hour-long music video.

Beyoncé
Current GRAMMY nominee Beyoncé has re-established herself as Queen Bey after surprising fans with a new self-titled album on Dec. 13. The 14-track album, which includes 17 new music videos, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, giving Beyoncé the distinction of being the first female artist to hit No. 1 with her first five studio albums. After only three days on sale, Beyoncé became the 24th bestselling album of the year, and the fastest-selling global album ever in the history of the iTunes Store, selling more than 800,000 units in its first three days. Who runs the world? Beyoncé.  

Oscars
Billboard has revealed a list of 75 songs that are eligible to be nominated for Original Song at the 86th Annual Academy Awards. GRAMMY winners appearing on the list include Fergie ("A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got) from The Great Gatsby); Jay Z ("100$ Bill" from The Great Gatsby); Coldplay ("Atlas" from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire); Taylor Swift ("Sweeter Than Fiction" from One Chance); U2 ("Ordinary Love" from Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom); Pharrell Williams ("Happy" from Despicable Me 2); and Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic ("Cut Me Some Slack" from Sound City). Nominations will be announced on Jan. 16, 2014.