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GRAMMY Rewind: 25th Annual GRAMMY Awards

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Toto wins Album and Record Of The Year against these nominees
GRAMMYs
Jun 21, 2017 - 12:57 am
GRAMMY.com

(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 down music memory lane with GRAMMY Rewind, highlighting the "big four" categories — Album Of The Year, Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best New Artist — from past awards shows. In the process, we'll examine 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 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards.

25th Annual GRAMMY Awards
Feb. 23, 1983

Album Of The Year
Winner: Toto, Toto IV
John Cougar, American Fool
Donald Fagen, The Nightfly
Billy Joel, The Nylon Curtain
Paul McCartney, Tug Of War

Toto IV, which featured such well-crafted hits as "Rosanna" and "Africa," took Album Of The Year honors over a strong field. McCartney and Fagen received their first nominations in this category as solo artists. McCartney had previously won in the category with the Beatles and had been nominated with his subsequent group Paul McCartney And Wings. Fagen had previously been nominated with Steely Dan. Joel, who won the award three years earlier for 52nd Street, was back in the finals with The Nylon Curtain. John Mellencamp (then known as John Cougar) rounded out the field with American Fool, the album that made him a star. It spawned the hits "Hurts So Good," which won a GRAMMY for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male; and "Jack & Diane," Mellencamp's lone No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 single.

Record Of The Year
Winner: Toto, "Rosanna"
Joe Jackson, "Steppin' Out"
Paul McCartney And Stevie Wonder, "Ebony And Ivory"
Willie Nelson, "Always On My Mind"
Vangelis, "Chariots Of Fire"

Toto took honors for "Rosanna," which made them the first group or duo to win Album Of The Year and Record Of The Year in the same year since Simon & Garfunkel achieved the feat 12 years earlier. McCartney and Wonder were nominated for their glossy brotherhood anthem "Ebony And Ivory." Wonder had previously been nominated in the category for "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life." This was McCartney's first nomination in the category since the Beatles ("I Want To Hold Your Hand," "Hey Jude" and "Let It Be" were all Record Of The Year contenders). Vangelis' "Chariots Of Fire" was the first instrumental movie theme to be nominated for Record Of The Year since Isaac Hayes' 1971 classic "Theme From Shaft." Nelson, cited for "Always On My Mind," was the first country artist to be nominated in the category since Kenny Rogers, who received nods in 1979 and 1980 for "The Gambler" and "Lady," respectively. (The song won Nelson a GRAMMY for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male.) Jackson rounded out the field with his stylish "Steppin' Out," which broke the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982.

Song Of The Year
Winner: Willie Nelson, "Always On My Mind"
Donald Fagen, "I.G.Y. (What A Beautiful World)"
Paul McCartney And Stevie Wonder, "Ebony & Ivory"
Survivor, "Eye Of The Tiger"
Toto, "Rosanna"

"Always On My Mind" (written by Johnny Christopher, Mark James and Wayne Carson) became the first song to win both Song Of The Year and Best Country Song since Bobby Russell's "Little Green Apples" took both awards in 1968. McCartney, who won Song Of The Year with John Lennon for "Michelle" in 1966, was nominated for "Ebony And Ivory." "I.G.Y. (What A Beautiful World)" marked the first Song Of The Year award for Fagen. The other two nominated songs were written by members of the groups that made them hits: "Eye Of The Tiger," written by Survivor's Frankie Sullivan and Jim Peterik;; and "Rosanna," written by Toto's David Paich. Featured in the hit movie Rocky III, "Eye Of The Tiger" won Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals honors and was also nominated for an Academy Award.

Best New Artist
Winner: Men At Work
Asia
Jennifer Holliday
Human League
Stray Cats

Australia's Men At Work, who topped the Billboard Hot 100 with their hits "Who Can It Be Now?" and "Down Under," took the award for Best New Artist. Asia, comprising former members of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, King Crimson and Yes, was also nominated. Asia's chart-topping debut album spawned the hits "Heat Of The Moment" and "Only Time Will Tell." The field also included Human League, an English group who topped the chart with "Don't You Want Me"; Stray Cats, a rockabilly trio from New York who scored such hits as "Rock This Town" and "Stray Cat Strut"; and Holliday, who became the toast of Broadway (and won a Tony Award for best actress in a musical) with her performance in "Dreamgirls." She won a GRAMMY for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female for her performance of the musical's signature song, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going."

Come back to GRAMMY.com Jan. 24 as we revisit the 30th Annual GRAMMY Awards. Meanwhile, visit The Recording Academy's social networks on Facebook and Twitter for updates and breaking GRAMMY news.

 

 

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The GRAMMYs' Rich Kennedy Center Honors History

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Several GRAMMY winners and Recording Academy Special Merit Award recipients have graduated with Kennedy Center Honors
Paul Grein
GRAMMYs
Jun 21, 2017 - 12:57 am
GRAMMY.com

Three of this year's five recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors are past GRAMMY winners for Album Of The Year. Billy Joel took the award in 1979 for 52nd Street, Carlos Santana in 1999 for Santana's blockbuster Supernatural and Herbie Hancock in 2007 for the star-studded River: The Joni Letters.

Joel also swept Record and Song Of The Year in 1978 for "Just The Way You Are." And he received a GRAMMY Legend Award in 1991. Santana also took home Record Of The Year for "Smooth," a collaboration with Rob Thomas that was the lead single from Supernatural.

Joel, Santana and Hancock are hardly the first winners of GRAMMYs in marquee categories to receive Kennedy Center Honors. Fourteen previous Kennedy honorees have won GRAMMYs in one or more of the "Big Three" categories — Album, Record and Song Of The Year.

Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon, who share the GRAMMY record for most Album Of The Year victories (three each) received Kennedy Center Honors in 1983, 1999 and 2002, respectively. (Simon's tally includes one album with Art Garfunkel.)

Bob Dylan and Quincy Jones, who have each won Album Of The Year twice, received Kennedy Center Honors in 1997 and 2001, respectively. Dylan took Album Of The Year for 1997's Time Out Of Mind and as a guest artist on George Harrison's The Concert For Bangla Desh, the 1972 winner. Jones won in 1990 for Back On The Block and as producer of Michael Jackson's Thriller, the 1983 champ.

Other past Album Of The Year winners who have received Kennedy Center Honors are Barbra Streisand, Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Tina Turner, and Robert Plant. Streisand won Album Of The Year in 1963 for The Barbra Streisand Album, McCartney for the Beatles' 1967 opus Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Bennett for 1994's MTV Unplugged, Charles for 2004's Genius Loves Company, Turner as a guest artist on the aforementioned River: The Joni Letters, and Plant for 2008's Raising Sand, a collaboration with Alison Krauss.

(Several of these Album Of The Year winners have also won additional "Big Three" GRAMMYs.)

Three Song Of The Year winners, not already named, have received Kennedy Center Honors. They are Jerry Herman, who took Song Of The Year for 1964's "Hello, Dolly!," Stephen Sondheim, who won in 1975 for "Send In The Clowns," and Bruce Springsteen, who won in 1994 for "Streets Of Philadelphia."

Nearly 60 recipients of Kennedy Center Honors (57 to be exact) have received one or more honorary Recording Academy Special Merit Awards — the Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award or GRAMMY Legend Award. As such, they have received the highest form of recognition for career achievement from both The Recording Academy and the Kennedy Center Honors.

Here they are, arranged by genre — with the year that the individual(s) received the Kennedy honor in parentheses.

Classical: Marian Anderson (1978), Artur Rubinstein (1978), Aaron Copland (1979), Leonard Bernstein (1980), Leontyne Price (1980), Isaac Stern (1984), Georg Solti (1993), Jessye Norman (1997), Andre Previn (1998), Van Cliburn (2001), Luciano Pavarotti (2001), and Itzhak Perlman (2003).

Traditional pop and Broadway: Fred Astaire (1978), Richard Rodgers (1978), Frank Sinatra (1983), Lena Horne (1984), Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe (1985), Perry Como (1987), Sammy Davis Jr. (1987), Stephen Sondheim (1993), Julie Andrews (2001), Tony Bennett (2005), Andrew Lloyd Webber (2006), and Barbra Streisand (2008).

Jazz: Ella Fitzgerald (1979), Count Basie (1981), Benny Goodman (1982), Dizzy Gillespie (1990), Benny Carter (1996), Dave Brubeck (2009), and Sonny Rollins (2011).

R&B: Ray Charles (1986), Aretha Franklin (1994), Stevie Wonder (1999), Quincy Jones (2001), James Brown (2003), Smokey Robinson (2006), and Diana Ross (2007).

Country: Roy Acuff (1991), Johnny Cash (1996), Willie Nelson (1998), Loretta Lynn (2003), Dolly Parton (2006), George Jones (2008), and Merle Haggard (2010).

Rock and contemporary pop: Bob Dylan (1997), Chuck Berry (2000), Paul Simon (2002), Elton John (2004), Brian Wilson (2007), The Who's Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey (2008), Paul McCartney (2010), Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant (2012), and Billy Joel (2013).

Misc. (calypso, folk and blues): Harry Belafonte (1989), Pete Seeger (1994) and B.B. King (1995).

This year's other two Kennedy Center Honors recipients are GRAMMY-nominated opera singer Martina Arroyo and actress Shirley MacLaine. The artists will be saluted at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 8. The show will be telecast on CBS on Dec. 29.

(Paul Grein, a veteran music journalist based in Los Angeles, writes the weekly Chart Watch column for Yahoo.com.)

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Your GRAMMY Performer Checklist

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A handy guide to every performance scheduled for the 56th GRAMMY Awards
GRAMMYs
Jun 21, 2017 - 12:57 am
GRAMMY.com

The GRAMMY Awards telecast stands as the richest collection of musical talent on any one show, three-and-a-half hours of nearly nonstop music from today's hottest performers as well as surprise GRAMMY Moments that create indelible memories for fans.

Is there a downside to such a giant, wide-ranging night of music? Well, sometimes it can be difficult to keep track of the sprawling list of performers.

The star-studded performance lineup for the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards has a bit of everything — a number of first-time GRAMMY performances; a not-to-be-missed metal/classical mashup; the Daftest band in music; performances from half of arguably the greatest band ever; and of course the best in country, rock, pop, and hip-hop. And don't forget the coolest host around: LL Cool J.

It's a lot to keep track of, so we've compiled a handy alphabetical guide to artists who will be taking the GRAMMY stage. Of course, be sure to stay logged on to GRAMMY.com and follow our live-blog to complement your GRAMMY experience.

 And the performers for the 56th GRAMMY Awards are: 

  • Billie Joe Armstrong and Miranda Lambert in tribute to Phil Everly
  • Sara Bareilles with 2014 MusiCares Person of the Year Carole King
  • Gary Clark Jr.
  • Daft Punk with Nile Rodgers (of Chic), Pharrell Williams, Stevie Wonder and the RAM (Random Access Memories) session players: Chris Caswell, Nathan East, Omar Hakim, and Paul Jackson Jr.
  • Merle Haggard, 2014 Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, and Blake Shelton
  • Hunter Hayes
  • Kendrick Lamar and Imagine Dragons
  • John Legend
  • Lorde
  • Madonna with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Mary Lambert
  • Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, who as members of the Beatles will receive the 2014 Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Metallica and GRAMMY Cultural Ambassador to China Lang Lang
  • Kacey Musgraves
  • Nine Inch Nails, Queens Of The Stone Age, Dave Grohl, and Lindsey Buckingham in a rousing finale
  • Katy Perry
  • Pink and Nate Ruess (of Fun.)
  • Taylor Swift
  • Robin Thicke and GRAMMY-winning group Chicago
  • Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
  • Keith Urban

The 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards will take place live on Sunday, Jan. 26 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). For GRAMMY coverage, updates and breaking news, visit The Recording Academy's social networks on Twitter and Facebook.

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GRAMMY Insider: Chris Brown, Jennifer Hudson, Darius Rucker, Carrie Underwood, And Usher

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All the GRAMMY winners news, including details on musicians' efforts for Oklahoma tornado relief
GRAMMYs
Jun 21, 2017 - 12:57 am
GRAMMY.com

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

Oklahoma Relief Efforts
Darius Rucker and Usher are the latest artists to join the lineup for Blake Shelton's concert to benefit Oklahoma tornado victims.  Airing May 29 on NBC, the concert will also feature performances by GRAMMY winners Vince Gill, Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire, and Ryan Tedder. … Carrie Underwood has announced a $1 million donation to Red Cross tornado relief efforts for Oklahoma. Underwood grew up in the small town of Checotah, Okla.

Awards
Usher will be honored with the ASCAP Golden Note Award in recognition of his extraordinary career milestones during the 26th Annual Rhythm & Soul Music Awards on June 27 in Los Angeles.

Music And Film/TV
Bruce Springsteen is proving he's the Boss of rock and film with the July 22 release of Springsteen And I, a documentary examining the relationship between Springsteen's loyal fans and his music through fan-submitted video captured at Springsteen's concerts. … Jennifer Hudson is reportedly taking a new seat on "American Idol" as the reality series' latest judge. The former "Idol" finalist could be joined by fellow series alum Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken and Adam Lambert, according to E! News.

Lifestyle
Justin Bieber may have a new song on the horizon and it goes something like this: "If you were my best friend …." The teen heartthrob has been spotted on Instagram pictured with someone who seems to be his new best bud, Chris Brown, with the caption, "CB what's up." Let's hope they're not sharing dating advice.

On The Road
Save the date: Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival will return to Indio Calif., April 11–13 and April 18–20, 2014. Tickets are already on sale. The performers at the 2013 installment included La Roux, Phoenix and Red Hot Chili Peppers. … Former Eagles guitarist Don Felder has been added to the lineup of Peter Frampton's Guitar Circus tour, which kicks off May 28 in Nashville. The list of guitarists performing on the tour includes GRAMMY winners Robert Cray, Steve Cropper, Dean DeLeo, Vince Gill, and Vernon Reid.

New Music
Paul Allen is adding recording artist to his already impressive résumé as the Microsoft co-founder has announced the August release of his debut album, Everything At Once, which will feature a host of celebrity guests, including GRAMMY winners David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, Derek Trucks and Joe Walsh, as well as Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson and Chrissie Hynde. … On the heels of their upcoming 3-D film Metallica Through The Never, Metallica's James Hetfield has revealed the band has enough material for a new album. "We just haven't had enough time to really focus on it and dial in and start whittling into these masterpieces hopefully," Hetfield said.

#theysaidit
In a new interview with The New York Times, Billy Joel discussed his rift with former tourmate Elton John. In a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone, John criticized Joel's "laziness" for not writing new music. "He tends to shoot off his mouth — he shoots from the hip," said Joel. "I think his heart is in the right place. Maybe he's trying to motivate me, to get me mad or something. He's kind of like a mom." … Taylor Swift has released a music video for her latest single "22" and Conan O'Brien has something to say about it, namely that it's not an "accurate representation of what it's like to be 22," complaining there weren't any "ramen noodles in that video. That's all you're eating when you're 22." … Paul McCartney wrote an open letter to Russian authorities on behalf of Pussy Riot members Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, pleading, "I have had a long relationship with the Russian people, and, with this in mind, I am making the following request in a spirit of friendship for my many Russian acquaintances who, like me, believe in treating people — all people — with compassion and kindness."

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Dr. Dre to Tom Petty: What's your GRAMMY friend playlist?

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The GRAMMY Friendship Day playlist
GRAMMYs
Jun 21, 2017 - 12:57 am
GRAMMY.com

There aren't many things more important than friendship. A friend is someone you can talk with about a problem, someone who is always there when you need a hand, someone you can trust with your deepest secrets, someone who makes you laugh, or even someone you can poke on Facebook. And a friend can be anyone or anything: a parent, a sibling, a classmate, a pet, a stuffed animal, or even invisible.

In recognizing the important role friends play in people's lives, in 1935 Congress proclaimed the first Sunday in August as Friendship Day. The idea is simple: spend time with your friends and express your love and appreciation for them. The holiday has caught on globally as friends worldwide take part in the celebration, led by friendship ambassador Winnie the Pooh, who was named to the post in 1997 by the United Nations.

Of course, artists and musicians know the importance of friendship. Whether it is a bandmate, producer, songwriter, or manager, an artist needs a good team of friends he/she can trust. Sometimes musical friendship can manifest itself in other ways, such as getting together with a fellow artist in the spirit of collaboration.

With the latter thought in mind, we present our GRAMMY Friendship Day playlist featuring memorable pairings and duets, and the coveted fruits of thy friendships: the songs. 

 

Neil Diamond & Barbra Streisand (iTunes>)
"You Don't Bring Me Flowers," Record Of The Year nominee, 1979

Written by Diamond with Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Diamond and Streisand each recorded solo versions of this solemn song and an enterprising disc jockey spliced together both versions, which ultimately resulted in the pair coming together for their duet recording. It was a good idea as the duet hit the summit of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978, and was followed by a memorable performance at the 22nd Annual GRAMMY Awards in 1980.

 

Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes (iTunes>)
"Up Where We Belong," Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, 1982

Appearing on the soundtrack for An Officer And A Gentleman, this uplifting No. 1 hit almost didn't happen. Film producer Don Simpson demanded it be shelved from the soundtrack, saying at the time, "The song is no good. It isn't a hit." The magic combination of Cocker and Warnes ultimately proved him wrong. Songwriters Will Jennings, Jack Nitzsche and Buffy Sainte-Marie also took home the Oscar for best original song in 1982.

 

Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes (iTunes>)
"(I've Had) The Time Of My Life," Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, 1987

Warnes makes a second playlist appearance with her duet with Medley featured in Dirty Dancing. Who could forget the film's dancing finale? Frances "Baby" Houseman (played by Jennifer Grey) overcomes her trepidation and trusts both herself and her dancing partner, Johnny Castle (played by Patrick Swayze), to allow him to lift her up figuratively and literally, set to the perfect backdrop of "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life." The song also picked up the Oscar for best original song in 1987.

 

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss (iTunes>)
"Please Read The Letter," Record Of The Year, 2008

The Album Of The Year winner in 2008, Raising Sand, was spawned by the unlikely combination of a bluegrass princess and rock royalty. The collaboration, which also featured the able assistance of producer T Bone Burnett, proved to be fruitful as Krauss and Plant struck GRAMMY gold five times over. Asked to sum up the partnership with Krauss, Plant said in a 2007 interview: "We're happy. We feel good together, this seems to be a good little team."

 

Santana & Rob Thomas (iTunes>)
"Smooth," Record Of The Year, 1999

Santana employed a large cast of friends for his 1999 album Supernatural, including Eric Clapton, Lauryn Hill, Maná, and Dave Matthews. Most notably, his teamwork with Matchbox Twenty singer Thomas on "Smooth" resulted in one of the top songs not only of the year, but of the last 50 years. In 2008 Billboard named "Smooth" as the No. 2 song on its list of the Billboard Hot 100's top 100 songs from its first 50 years, only behind Chubby Checker's "The Twist."

 

Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder (iTunes>)
"Ebony And Ivory," Record Of The Year nominee, 1982

A song embodying harmony and true friendship, "Ebony And Ivory" united two legends in McCartney and Wonder. The song's call-and-response includes a reference to black-and-white keys being side by side on a piano, underscoring its theme of racial harmony. Penned solely by Macca, the song lived in perfect harmony at No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic in 1982.

 

Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers (iTunes>)
"Islands In The Stream," Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal nominee, 1983

Written by the Bee Gees, "Islands In The Stream" was the start of a beautiful friendship between two of country's finest artists. After riding the stream all the way to No. 1, Parton and Rogers proceeded to record a Christmas album and would eventually team for another duet in 1985, "Real Love," which was followed by a brief U.S. tour.

 

Faith Evans & Puff Daddy (iTunes>)
"I'll Be Missing You," Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group, 1997

Diddy, the artist formerly known as Puffy and Puff Daddy, joined with Evans for the touching "I'll Be Missing You" to honor the late Notorious B.I.G, who was murdered in 1997. The song borrows the melody and basic structure from the Police's "Every Breath You Take." Friendship assist: Sting.

 

Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg (iTunes>)
"Nuthin' But A 'G' Thang," Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group nominee, 1993

Featured on Dr. Dre's seminal hip-hop album, The Chronic, "Nuthin' But A 'G' Thang" paired Dre with then-new artist Snoop Dogg. In true friendship fashion, the music video depicts Dre trekking to pick up Snoop for a block party blowout featuring volleyball, barbeque and other thangs.

 

Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty (iTunes>)
"Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal nominee, 1981

For her first solo album outside Fleetwood Mac, Nicks enlisted the talents of Petty and his band the Heartbreakers in 1981 on "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around." The song features spirited vocal interplay between Petty and Nicks, with backing from the entire Heartbreakers roster. In reciprocal friendship nature, earlier that year Nicks sang vocals on tracks featured on Petty's Hard Promises album.

 

Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men (iTunes>)
"One Sweet Day," Record Of The Year nominee, 1995

Boyz II Men and Carey teamed for this soaring ballad, featured on Carey's Daydream album, in 1995. The somber verse lyrics lament a friend who has passed while the chorus offers optimism with the hopes of a reunion in heaven "one sweet day." The song holds the distinction for having the longest run (16 weeks) at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

 

Johnny Cash & Joe Strummer
"Redemption Song," Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals nominee, 2004

The pairing of former Clash member Strummer and country legend Cash proved to be equally redeeming and exciting. Their cover of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song," a song encouraging emancipation from "mental slavery," made its way on to Cash's box set, Unearthed, in 2003. Sadly, these two friends are no longer with us: Strummer died in 2002 and Cash died in 2003.

 

Babyface & Eric Clapton (iTunes>)
"Change The World," Record Of The Year, 1996

Clapton and Babyface teamed for "Change The World" for Phenomenon, a film telling the tale of a small-town man (played by John Travolta) who unexpectedly attains telekinetic powers. The classic rock guitar titan and smooth R&B crooner rode this song all the way to No. 1 with the help of some other friends, songwriters Gordon Kennedy, Wayne Kirkpatrick and Tommy Sims.

 

k.d. lang & Roy Orbison (iTunes>)
"Crying," Best Country Vocal Collaboration, 1988

Sometimes it's a friend who can make all the difference. Canadian songstress lang got one of her first big career breaks touring as a backup singer with Orbison, and received another when Orbison decided to record a duet with her on "Crying" in 1987. Orbison originally wrote the song with Joe Melson and released it in 1961. The duet marked lang's first appearance on the Country Singles chart.

 

Judy Garland & Gene Kelly (iTunes>)
"For Me And My Gal," GRAMMY Hall Of Fame, 2010

Graduating from the role of Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz, a then-20-year-old Garland played her first adult role in 1942's For Me And My Gal. The film is set during World War I and follows the journey of two talented performers, Jo Hayden (Garland) and Harry Palmer (Kelly), with grand plans for vaudeville success. The song was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 2010, becoming Garland's sixth recording to earn Hall honors. 

 

Elton John, Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick & Stevie Wonder (iTunes>)
"That's What Friends Are For," Song Of The Year, 1986

What's better than a duet? How about four GRAMMY-winning artists getting together to perform a song that speaks to the true meaning of friendship.

 

What songs symbolize friendship to you? Drop us a comment.