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GRAMMYs

Celine Dion

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GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Celine Dion's 1999 Win grammy-rewind-watch-celine-dion-win-record-year-my-heart-will-go

GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Celine Dion Win Record Of The Year For "My Heart Will Go On"

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Two decades before Billie Eilish's 2020 win, Celine Dion stepped onto the GRAMMY stage to take home Record Of The Year for her smash hit "My Heart Will Go On"
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Feb 21, 2020 - 3:06 pm

Long before Billie Eilish's 2020 Record Of The Year win, French-Canadian pop sensation Celine Dion stepped onto the GRAMMY stage to take home Record Of The Year for her smash hit "My Heart Will Go On."

It was 1999: two years after Dion's ballad was prominently featured in James Cameron's star-crossed epic "Titanic," a song placement that forever impacted the way music was used in film. The Canadian vocal powerhouse was up against the Goo Goo Dolls ("Iris"), Monica and Brandy ("The Boy Is Mine"), Madonna ("Ray Of Light") and Shania Twain ("You're Still The One").  

Watch Celine Dion Win For "My Heart Will Go On"

During her acceptance speech, it was only fitting that Dion, who took home the golden gramophone along with Walter Afanasieff, Simon Franglen and James Horner, thank the person who made her own heart, well, go on.

Watch the GRAMMY Rewind video above to hear Dion's speech, which thanked her late husband and manager, René Angélil.

Prince Estate + Legacy Recordings Announce Wave Of Physical Reissues

GRAMMYs

Eric Clapton, Unplugged

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GRAMMY Rewind: 35th Annual GRAMMY Awards

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Eric Clapton wins Album, Record and Song Of The Year against these nominees
Crystal Larsen
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm

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

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

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

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

35th Annual GRAMMY Awards
Feb. 24, 1993

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How 1996 Became The Year Of The Pop Diva

(L-R) Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston

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Big Voices: How Pop Divas Reigned In 1996 2021-pop-divas-1996-mariah-carey-whitney-houston-celine-dion

Big Voices, Ballads and Blockbuster Hits: How 1996 Became The Year Of The Pop Diva

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Shortly before Spicemania took hold, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Celine Dion ushered in a more grown-up wave of girl power
Jon O'Brien
GRAMMYs
Mar 31, 2021 - 11:51 am

Mariah, Whitney and Celine—a.k.a. the holy trinity of pop divas with pyrotechnic vocal ranges—had enjoyed triumphant years before. Carey scored the biggest-selling album of 1991 with her self-titled debut, which spawned four consecutive No. 1s. Houston achieved the same feat in 1986 and 1993 with her eponymous first LP and The Bodyguard OST. And the chart-topping success of Celine Dion's "The Power of Love" in 1994 helped push its parent album The Colour of My Love to sales of more than 20 million. 

In 1996, the stars aligned for all three powerhouse singers to reach the pole position on Billboard’s singles chart. The trio essentially monopolized its first six months. You had to wait until May 18—when the distinctly non-pop-diva-like Bone Thugs-n-Harmony’s hip-hop eulogy "Tha Crossroads" replaced Carey’s "Always Be My Baby"—to hear someone else at the top of the US Hot 100. 

This remarkable pop diva merry-go-round had actually started back in September 1995 thanks to "Fantasy." Sampling Tom Tom Club and featuring Ol' Dirty Bastard, the sublime Daydream cut pioneered the soon-to-be ubiquitous hip-hop sound. At eight weeks, it also became the longest-running of Carey’s first nine No. 1s before being unseated by her biggest rival’s "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)." 

That, in turn, was knocked off the top spot after just seven days by another Carey collaboration, with the slick vocal harmonies of Boyz II Men replacing the gonzo, growling rhymes of ODB. A tribute to the loved ones who they’d lost to the AIDS epidemic, "One Sweet Day" remarkably remained the nation’s most popular single until March of the following year. The song’s record-breaking 16-week stint wouldn’t be surpassed until another much less likely duet 23 years later, Lil Nas X’s and Billy Ray Cyrus’ hick-hop smash "Old Town Road."

The artist who finally toppled "One Sweet Day" ended up truly dominating 1996. Although Dion had already released a string of albums before Houston and Carey had set foot inside a recording studio, the Canadian only began making waves outside the Francophone market with 1990’s Unison. It would be another four years before she started being mentioned in the same breath. But by the end of her fourth English-language album’s campaign, Dion had become the new queen. 

A true blockbuster of a record, Falling Into You reportedly shifted a colossal 32 million copies, placing it in the same bracket as The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Eagles’ Hotel California. It spawned two No.1 hits: the slow-building theme to the Robert Redford/Michelle Pfeiffer romance Up Close and Personal, "Because You Loved Me," and the epic-from-the-get-go "It’s All Coming Back to Me Now." And it saw Dion recognized at every major award ceremony, including the Oscars, Golden Globes, and, most notably, the GRAMMYs. 

Of course, Houston had previously shared the Album of the Year award for her contributions to The Bodyguard OST. However, Dion was the first of her peers to achieve the accolade entirely independently: despite some rather snooty predictions, Carey’s Daydream had failed to win the category, or indeed any of the five others it was nominated for, in 1996. Falling Into You, which was additionally crowned Best Pop Album at the same 1997 ceremony, even beat another Houston-heavy soundtrack, Waiting to Exhale, to the glittering prize.

Proving her double-threat credentials once again, Houston not only held her own against Angela Bassett in Forest Whitaker’s directorial debut, but she lent her unmistakable voice to three of its songs as well. "Why Does It Hurt So Bad" and CeCe Winans’ duet "Count on Me" later joined "Exhale" on Houston’s tally of Top 30 entries, as did "I Believe in You and Me" from The Preacher’s Wife OST later that same year, too. 

Houston wasn’t the only pop diva to score hits from the 12 million-selling Waiting to Exhale, which placed fourth behind Falling Into You, Daydream and Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill on 1996’s year-end album chart. Mary J. Blige’s defiant slow jam, "Not Gon’ Cry," became the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul’s biggest single to date before the sweetly-sung funk of Brandy’s "Sittin’ Up In My Room" followed in its footsteps by also peaking at No.2. Meanwhile, Toni Braxton’s emotive ballad, "Let It Flow," effectively topped the charts thanks to its memorable double A-side. 

Braxton had a remarkable 1996 herself, following up the No. 1 success of "You’re Makin' Me High" with the year’s defining power ballad, "Un-Break My Heart" (its parent LP Secrets went eight times platinum, too). Although she wasn’t entirely averse to bombast, Babyface’s musical protégé proved you didn’t have to shatter glasses to be considered a ‘90s pop diva. Alongside Brandy, Monica and another Waiting to Exhale contributor, TLC’s T-Boz, Braxton’s strengths lay in the kind of rich lower register that could melt butter.  

On the other end of the spectrum, the featherlight vocals of Aaliyah had found their perfect foil in the shape of Timbaland and Missy Elliott’s futuristic production on One In a Million. The sparse robotic funk of "If Your Girl Only Knew" was a prime contender for single of the year. Then there was Lauryn Hill, busy sowing the seeds for her frustratingly erratic solo career as the gritty but beautifully melodic voice behind 1996’s biggest hip-hop act, Fugees.

And although the States would have to wait until the following year for Spicemania to take hold, there were still plenty of groups bringing the girl power. SWV scored their final Top 10 hit with "You’re the One," 702 put themselves on the map with the slick street soul of "Steelo" and Total provided the sugary melodic hook for LL Cool J’s bedroom song "Loungin’." The self-ordained funkiest bunch of divas, En Vogue, also launched their comeback single, "Don’t Let Go," which in 1997 saw them come agonizingly close to the top spot for the third time. 

The new guard of pop divas, however, hadn’t completely shut out the old. Barbra Streisand reached the Top 10 for the first time since 1981 with "I Finally Found Someone," the Oscar-nominated Bryan Adams collaboration taken from her self-directed starring vehicle, The Mirror Has Two Faces. Gloria Estefan’s soaring "Reach" was chosen as the official anthem for the year’s biggest sporting event, the Atlanta Olympics. And Cher ("One By One"), Tina Turner ("Missing You") and Chaka Khan & Gladys Knight ("Missing You") all made deserved returns to the US Hot 100. 

Perhaps the most interesting pop diva development, though, arrived at the tail end of the year. Madonna had already settled into the demure balladeer phase of her career with the hits compilation Something to Remember. But she made an even more concerted bid for respectability with the leading role in Evita. The First Lady of Pop’s performance as the First Lady of Argentina was deemed the strongest in her filmography. Simultaneously, the accompanying soundtrack—recorded with musical impresarios Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice—silenced those who believed she didn’t possess the range. 

Of course, Madge would soon reinvent herself as the Earth Mother of electronica on 1998’s magnum opus Ray of Light, completely abandoning the showboating love songs that had become Carey, Houston and Dion’s forte. Yet whereas the latter went on to double down on the histrionics with Streisand duets and disaster movie themes, her two vocal counterparts also began to explore much more credible directions.

Carey roped in Q-Tip, Missy and P. Diddy for the urban pop of 1997’s Butterfly, a clear statement of independence following her split with manager husband Tommy Mottola. Houston, meanwhile, surprised everyone with 1999’s My Love Is Your Love, a masterful comeback guided by a who’s who of contemporary R&B including Rodney Jerkins, Wyclef Jean and Soulshock & Karlin.

By this point, VH1 had belatedly recognized that we were in a golden era for female vocalists, launching their own charity concert series simply titled Divas. The annual show celebrated artists both established and emerging during its initial seven-year run, with Houston, Carey and Dion all making regular appearances.

However, thanks to their dominance of the Billboard charts and the emergence of countless names they inspired, 1996 remains the year when the pop divas—or perhaps more aptly, the elusive chanteuses—truly reigned supreme.

For The Record: Inside The Historic Legacy Of Carole King’s 'Tapestry' At 50

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Amy Winehouse

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GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Amy Winehouse Win Best New Artist Via Cyndi Lauper And Miley Cyrus

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The late singer Amy Winehouse was in London at the time (and set to perform via satellite), so Miley Cyrus and Cyndi Lauper accepted the award on her behalf
Morgan Enos
GRAMMYs
Mar 26, 2021 - 9:57 am

The vocal powerhouse Amy Winehouse, who tragically passed away in 2011, is canon by now—the music world has long deemed her one of the greats. 

So it’s sobering to relive the moment when Winehouse won Best New Artist—even when Winehouse was abroad at the time. (She would perform via satellite later in the show.)

Watch Amy Winehouse Win Best New Artist

In the latest episode of GRAMMY Rewind, watch a mega-exuberant Cyndi Lauper and Miley Cyrus accept the award on Winehouse’s behalf at the 50th GRAMMY Awards show in 2008.

Watch the giddy throwback clip above and check out more GRAMMY Rewind episodes here.

GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Eminem Win Best Rap Album For 'The Marshall Mathers LP' In 2001

Shakira at 2001 GRAMMYs

Shakira at 2001 GRAMMYs

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Watch Shakira Win Her First GRAMMY In 2001 grammy-rewind-shakira-wins-her-first-grammy-best-latin-pop-album-2001

GRAMMY Rewind: Shakira Wins Her First GRAMMY For Best Latin Pop Album In 2001

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"Everything I do… is dedicated to my country, Colombia. That in spite of our tough reality, we keep our spirit joyful and alive," Shakira declared in her acceptance speech
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Feb 5, 2021 - 12:22 pm

For the latest episode of GRAMMY Rewind, GRAMMY.com celebrates legendary Latin pop reina Shakira's birthday (Feb. 2) by traveling back to 2001 when she won her first-ever GRAMMY.

Below, watch the Colombian singer, rocking cascading blonde curls and a backless gold-and-earth-toned dress, accept the Best Latin Pop Album award for 2000's Shakira MTV Unplugged at the 43rd GRAMMY Awards.

"Everything I do…is dedicated to my country, Colombia. That in spite of our tough reality, we keep our spirit joyful and alive," Shakira said in her acceptance speech.

The live album was also nominated for Album Of The Year at the 1st Latin GRAMMY Awards in 2000, where she won her first two Latin GRAMMYs (for "Octavo Día" and "Ojos Así"). She received her first GRAMMY nomination at the 41st GRAMMY Awards, for her fourth album, Dónde Están los Ladrones?

GRAMMY Rewind: Watch The Roots And Erykah Badu Gleefully Win Their First GRAMMY in 2000

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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.