Lauryn Hill at the 41st GRAMMY Awards, 1999

Lauryn Hill

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'The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill': For The Record

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See the story behind Lauryn Hill's GRAMMY-winning 'The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill'
Brian Haack
GRAMMYs
Mar 15, 2018 - 1:29 pm

The 41st GRAMMY Awards played host to a number of historic musical moments. Aside from being a massive evening for female creators across the board – with Madonna, Alanis Morissette, Dixie Chicks, Celine Dion, and Sheryl Crowe all taking home one or more awards – the evening also saw a compelling performance by Ricky Martin that ignited a Latin Pop explosion in the coming year, as well as a series of landmark wins by Lauryn Hill including the first time in GRAMMY history that the coveted Album Of The Year honors went to a hip-hop artist.

For The Record: 'The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill'

Hill's hugely acclaimed solo debut album The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill – which to this day remains her only career solo release – was a force to be reckoned with.

Debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the album broke the standing record for first-week sales by a female artist, selling close to 423,000 copies in its first seven days.  The album chronicles Hill's reflections on a disintegrating relationship, having emerged stronger and wiser on the other side of a period of personal darkness.

Presenting a uniquely strong female perspective on life, love and relationships that was (and still is) noticeably absent in contemporary pop music, The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill was packed with lyrically deep songs that managed to be inescapably catchy and poignant at the same time. All three singles serviced to radio – "Doo Wop (That Thing)," "Ex-Factor," and "Everything Is Everything" – charted Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, with "Doo Wop" eventually claiming the chart's top spot.  "Everything Is Everything" is also notable for standing as the first recorded appearance by a young John Legend in commercial music. Legend, credited under his birth name of John Stephens, played backing piano on the track.

The album earned a total of 10 nominations at the 41st GRAMMY Awards, and Hill took the stage during the evening's festivities for a rousing performance of "To Zion," with the notable accompaniment of Carlos Santana, with whom she would share in an Album Of The Year Win at the 42nd GRAMMYs for the legendary guitarist's globally successful Clive Davis-produced smash hit album Supernatural.

Altogether, Hill took home five GRAMMY Awards for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, including Album Of The Year, Best R&B Album, Best New Artist, Best R&B Song, and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance – the latter two both for "Doo Wop (That Thing)." 

With her previous wins for Best Rap Album (The Score) and Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal ("Killing Me Softly With His Song") as a member of the hip-hop/soul supergroup Fugees, Hill's wins at the 41st GRAMMYs brought her total career wins to seven (rising to eight total the following year, thanks to her shared win for Supernatural). Hill also remains one of just five female artists who can count two or more Album Of The Year wins among their career honors.

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Lauryn Hill, 1998

Lauryn Hill

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Bob Newhart To Lauryn Hill: 4 Best New Artist & Album Of The Year Winners

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Take a closer look at the four artists who earned two of the GRAMMYs' most coveted awards in the same year
Brian Haack
GRAMMYs
Jan 11, 2018 - 2:08 pm

The GRAMMY for Best New Artist marks a special place in each winner's career. In many cases signaling the first major recognition by their peers as top-tier talents to watch, the honor also highlights each artist's potential to return to the GRAMMY stage in the years to come.

Best New Artist Nominees | 60th GRAMMY Awards

But on rare occasions an artist's first submission for GRAMMY Awards consideration showcases such strength that it earns them not only the Best New Artist GRAMMY, but also the coveted gramophone for Album Of The Year in the same year.

Bob Newhart, Christopher Cross, Lauryn Hill, and Norah Jones are the only four artists in GRAMMY history whose first touches with GRAMMY gold brought home simultaneous Best New Artist and Album Of The Year honors, and signaled the onset of profound careers in the recording industry.

Let's take a look back at the artists and the albums that made helped this quartet make GRAMMY history.

Bob Newhart, 3rd GRAMMY Awards (1960)

Beloved comedian and perennial straight-man actor Bob Newhart first made a name for himself through sketch-style audio recordings where he portrayed one-half of long business-oriented telephone conversations, implying absurd situations and outlandish statements on the part of the nonexistent other party to the call. After Warner Bros. Records signed Newhart off the strength of his homemade recordings, his 1960 debut album The Button-Down Mind Of Bob Newhart became the first comedy album to ever take the No. 1 slot on the Billboard 200. Six months later, Newhart released a follow-up record, The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back!, which reached No. 2 while his first album was still reigning at No. 1. The strength of the two albums earned Newhart a well-deserved Best New Artist at the 3rd GRAMMY Awards, the only comedian in GRAMMY history to win the title. Meanwhile, The Button-Down Mind Of Bob Newhart won Album Of The Year, while The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back! won Best Comedy Performance — Spoken Word.

Christopher Cross, 23rd GRAMMY Awards (1980)

Texas singer/songwriter Christopher Cross caught lightning in a bottle with his late-1979 self-titled debut album, which brought the then-28-year-old performer almost immediate success. With four radio singles — "Ride Like The Wind," "Sailing," "Never Be The Same," and "Say You'll Be Mine" — that claimed Top 20 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 ("Sailing" took No. 1), the album went on to become one of the most influential soft-rock LPs of the 1980s. Based on the strength of Cross' performance and songwriting, Christopher Cross helped him sweep the "big four" General Field categories at the 23rd GRAMMY Awards, taking home Best New Artist, Album of The Year, and Song and Record Of The Year ("Sailing") — to date, he is the only artist to achieve this feat. Additionally, "Sailing" won Cross the GRAMMY for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s), bringing the total haul for his first GRAMMY Awards outing to five.

Lauryn Hill, 41st GRAMMY Awards (1998)

After previously earning two GRAMMYs as a member of the Fugees, multitalented performer Lauryn Hill made the transition to solo artist, releasing her debut LP, The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill, to widespread critical acclaim in 1998. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and three singles — "Doo Wop (That Thing)," "Ex-Factor" and "Everything Is Everything" — charted Top 40 on the Hot 100, with "Doo Wop ..." claiming No. 1. The album's first-week sales also set a record for highest ever achieved by a female artist at the time. The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill earned Hill an astonishing 10 GRAMMY nominations at the 41st GRAMMY Awards, with Hill taking home Best New Artist, Album Of The Year, Best R&B Album, and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best Rhythm & Blues Song ("Doo Wop ..."), and setting a new record for most GRAMMY wins in a single night by a female artist up until that point. To date, The Miseducation  ... remains Hill's only solo studio album release.

Norah Jones, 45th GRAMMY Awards (2002)

The daughter of GRAMMY-winning sitar player Ravi Shankar, Norah Jones grew up with a respected musical pedigree and an omnivorous musical appetite for the sounds of eminent jazz icons such as Bill Evans and Billie Holiday. With a sonic blend of acoustic pop, melodic blues and down-tempo jazz stylings, Jones' debut studio album Come Away With Me earned the then-23-year-old singer a total of five nominations at the 45th GRAMMY Awards — Best New Artist, Album Of The Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance  and Record Of The Year ("Don't Know Why"). Jones won all five categories, tying the record for most GRAMMY wins in a single night by a female artist jointly held at the time by Hill and Alicia Keys. (This mark has since broken by Beyoncé and Adele, who have each taken home six GRAMMYs in a single night.)

Norah Jones wins Best New Artist

H.E.R.

H.E.R.

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Meet The First-Time GRAMMY Nominee: H.E.R. On Being Born Into Music & Why R&B Is "At The Core Of Everything"

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"It feels like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be," the R&B singer/songwriter, who is up for five GRAMMYs, told us
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Feb 7, 2019 - 2:17 pm

California native singer/songwriter H.E.R. may just be 21, but her honest and thoughtful approach to R&B, with personal lyrics and '90s throwback slow-jam beats, reveal an old soul. Her smooth yet powerful voice offers insights on love and identity with vulnerability and plenty of straight-up feelings.

While her music is communicative, and even her moniker is an acronym for "Having Everything Revealed," the rising star still operates with an air of mystery. She has chosen to reveal minimal details about herself and, always pictured behind large sunglasses, seems to ask us to focus on her music first.

We recently caught up with the talented multi-instrumentalist, who, as a first-time nominee, is up for five awards at the 61st GRAMMY Awards. (In addition to being nominated for the all-genre Best New Artist and Album Of The Year categories, she is also up for Best R&B Song, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Album. H.E.R., the album in consideration, is a release combining her two EPs plus B-sides—she has yet to release a debut LP.)

During our conversation, H.E.R. told us how grateful she is for all she's achieved thus far, growing up in a musical household, the importance of keeping "real people" around you and what we can expect to hear on her forthcoming debut album. 

"I didn't think I would get this far so soon, so I'm focusing on elevation and really dreaming bigger." 

How did you first learn about your first GRAMMY nomination? When you found out you were up for five awards, what was your initial reaction?

Oh my god! There were a lot of tears. I was with my tour squad; we had all just woken up early after a show. I was actually really sick, and kind of sad and down the day before. My manager gave us the news and it changed my entire mood and attitude. It made my day. I immediately called my mom, dad and sister. I was on cloud nine.

Your five nominations include Best New Artist, along with Album of the Year and Best R&B Album. What does that recognition mean to you?

It feels like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. It's so easy to question your art, even to question what you're doing, to question the path that you're on. But this is such confirmation for me; "you're exactly where you need to be, you're doing all the right things." It just feels amazing, it feels like I found my objective and I'm fulfilling it. I'm so blessed.

Was there a moment when you were younger that made you want to make music? Were there other artists you admired that made you want to make R&B?

Music was something that was a given for me, like out of the womb. At parties I was always the center of attention, singing and dancing and playing instruments. I never made that decision of "I'm going to do music." My dad had a band that would rehearse in our living room, so all the instruments were in there and I gravitated towards them at a super-young age.

My mom would try to find talent shows and festivals for me to be in around the Bay Area, even when I was only seven or eight years old, because she knew I loved to do it. It was never a career goal or what I was planning on doing as soon as I graduated high school. I just did it. It came super naturally to me.

One artist I really respect is Alicia Keys. Because she plays piano and sings, and because I love instruments so much, she definitely paved the way for a young black musician and young black woman like me who wants to play instruments and find my voice in the industry. She played a big role.

Related: 2019 GRAMMYs Host Alicia Keys: GRAMMY Rewind

I never really thought about the idea of being an R&B artist. R&B is kind of the core of everything, rhythm and blues. I grew up listening to a lot of soul and blues, so those influences shine through me. When I started making my first project, H.E.R. Vol. 1, it was so honest. It has a '90s R&B influence, but you could feel the soul reflecting my background and where I came from.

"Focus" is one of your songs up for a GRAMMY; the lyrics feel very personal and are really relatable. Can you talk about what that song means to you and how you think the honesty in your music helps you connect with fans?

My music is my diary. When I'm writing a song it's what I feel in that moment. With "Focus," I was afraid to leave it on my first project because it was so personal for me, it's so vulnerable. I was really young when I wrote it and was just feeling like, "put your phone down, pay attention to me." It's crazy how it's gone deeper and resonated with so many women; women who are even five and ten years into marriage, and able to relate that small feeling I felt then.

What's your favorite part of being an artist?

I don't know if I have a favorite part of being an artist. I do love being onstage and performing with my band. I also love rehearsing with them and creating the show, that's always a fun part. But there's also nothing like being in the studio and being able to get back to myself and get back to my feelings. The studio is the place for me to really confront my feelings and get it all out. I love being in that space and creating, doing what I love, making art.

Outside of music, how do you feel the success you've experienced in this past year has influenced or changed who you are?

I've learned a lot about myself through my music and the way people perceive it, and the goal is for the success not to change me. I feel like the same person I was when I released it, I've just grown. The success has definitely taught me a lot about keeping real people around you, and about purpose. It's taught me about the people and the things that you really need you to ensure success, and how important it is to keep those things around you and block out anything else, and about being positive.

Also, seeing the world has given me a better perspective on life. The fact that I can travel around the world doing what I love is such a blessing. I've learned that traveling is such an important thing; there's so many beautiful things out there and we get worried about such little things.

MAJORRRRR. UP IN TIMES SQUARE!!!!!!!! #mtvpush @mtv

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What are you most looking forward to about the GRAMMYs? How will you celebrate if you win?

It's going to be like a movie. The fact that I'm nominated for five [awards] is just, wow. And the fact that people are going to really see me, because as you know I haven't revealed too much of myself. It's going to be my first red carpet!

After the GRAMMYs, I just want be with the ones I love and to reminisce. I love to think about memories and all the things that got me up to this point, so that would be celebratory, looking at old videos and old pictures of where I came from.

Read More: Something About Her: The Mystery Of H.E.R.

What's on the horizon for H.E.R.—can we expect new music this year?

Absolutely. I'm going to release a debut album, which I'm excited about. It's crazy because my project that's nominated for Album Of The Year is the combination of my two EPs. So there will be the new album and I'll be touring more. Also, I'm starting a foundation called Bringing The Noise to help bring music back into schools that have lost their music programs. I'm really excited that I'm now in a position to be able to help people.

There's so much happening this year, I couldn't even tell you. Like performing at Coachella! I didn't think I would get this far so soon, so I'm focusing on elevation and really dreaming bigger.

Meet The First-Time GRAMMY Nominee: TOKiMONSTA On Authenticity & Why 'Lune Rouge' Is "A Celebration Of Life"

GRAMMYs

Prince

Photo: John Leyba/The Denver Post/Getty Images

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Prince's Masterpiece 'Purple Rain' | For The Record

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Revisit the magic of the legendary artist's classic album
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Sep 6, 2018 - 6:09 pm

With Prince's Purple Rain came some of his most memorable hits, his first GRAMMY wins and (of course) the classic movie.

Prince's Masterpiece 'Purple Rain': For The Record

The iconic GRAMMY-winning artist released Purple Rain, his sixth studio album, and the first one to feature his band The Revolution, on June 25, 1984. While the Prince created an astonishing amount of music in his lifetime, Purple Rain is often regarded as one of biggest classics.

Prince's fifth studio album, 1999, released in 1982, was his first Top 10 charting album, peaking at No. 9 on the Billboard 200, shooting the star into the public eye and earning him his first GRAMMY nods. Yet Purple Rain claimed his superstar status, gaining him his first No. 1 album and No. 1 songs, as well as his first three GRAMMY wins. The film, Purple Rain, released in 1984 along with the album, was Prince's acting debut and showcased him as a multi-talented star in the semi-autobiographical role.

Prince took home his first three wins at the 27th GRAMMY Awards, receiving Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal and Best Album Of Original Score Written For A Motion Picture Or A Television Special for Purple Rain. His third win that year came for his songwriting credits for Best R&B Song, for Chaka Khan's cover of  his "I Feel You." Purple Rain also received an Oscar for Music (Best Original Song Score) in 1984 and is the third best-selling movie soundtrack of all time.

Out of its nine songs, the album had five singles, all of which charted: "When Doves Cry," "Let's Go Crazy," "Purple Rain," "I Would Die 4 U" and "Take Me With U." "When Doves Cry" was the first single released from the album, gaining Prince his first No. 1 song status, followed by the second single and No. 1 hit, "Let's Go Crazy."  The latter song, the first track on the album, sets the tone with his memorable opening words.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life. An electric word, 'life.' It means forever…and that's a mighty long time. But I’m here to tell you there’s something else: the afterworld. A world of never-ending happiness, you can always see the sun, day or night," he famously says.

While "I Would Die 4 U," "Take Me With U" and "Purple Rain"  didn't quite reach No. 1 status, they all spent time on the charts, with each making waves and offering the world a dynamic taste of that special Prince sound in new packages. All of the singles from the album would follow Prince throughout his life, and are often the go-to songs fans think of as their favorites.

With "Purple Rain" we saw the more melancholy side of Prince, as he sings, "I never meant to cause you any sorrow/I never meant to cause you any pain/I only wanted to one time to see you laughing/I only wanted to see you/Laughing in the purple rain."

Even after his heartbreaking passing, Prince will live on forever in our hearts, through his music, and even on the charts. Purple Rain was inducted into GRAMMY Hall of Fame in 2011, celebrating it as a "recording of lasting qualitative or historical significance." The album also made a comeback on the charts, both after the artist's death and when the album was rereleased in 2017, when it reentered the Billboard 200 at No. 4. It is safe to say there will never be another star quite like Prince.

Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye

Photo: Ron Galella/WireImage

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Marvin Gaye 'Let's Get It On' | For The Record

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Seductive, elegant and successful, this landmark album expanded the range of the soul-music genre and raised the singer, songwriter and composer to iconic status
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Aug 30, 2018 - 4:27 pm

In 1973, the Marvin Gaye album Let's Get It On brought new dimensions to R&B/soul music, expanding the genre's boundaries musically as well as delivering a sexual-liberation message that gelled with the youth "love-in" philosophy in full force at the time.

Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On' | For The Record

Many elements came together to build the album's creative success. U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War had ended earlier that year. Gaye's previous socially conscious album What's Going On had been followed by his soundtrack to the movie Trouble Man, and the intimate, slow seductiveness of Let's Get It On was embraced by America as a message that felt just right. As an artist, Gaye's previous sales earned him creative control he took full advantage of, blending previously recorded tracks with new ideas, layering passionate background vocals of his own including moaning vocals, which were daring for the time. This was a turning point for the Berry Gordy music empire as well. He had started the album's Tamla label even before Motown and was expanding to the West Coast.

Let's Get It On features the influential collective of studio musicians known as the Funk Brothers, who helped create a musical platform for Gaye. The album is among their earliest credits, and they went on to win GRAMMY Awards and receive the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.

On a more personal side, Gaye's marriage to Gordy's sister Anna was heading toward divorce and some of the romantic impulses captured by the microphone were reportedly directed toward his future wife, Janis Hunter, who producer/co-writer Ed Townsend had brought to the recording studio.

The title track went to No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 and the LP reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200, the most successful soul album of the year. Gaye's performances on tour were electrifying and his subsequent live medley of "Trouble Man" and the LP's "Distant Lover" track helped prove Gaye's emerging iconic status. Although nominated for a GRAMMY for the album, it was later at the 25th GRAMMY Awards that Gaye enjoyed his first wins for "Sexual Healing." His own Lifetime Achievement Award came in 1996, and Let's Get It On was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 2004, joining its natural complement What's Going On, which was inducted in 1998.

Looking back, critics credit the smash as opening up the future of funk, as well as the quiet-storm and slow-jam styles. It was noted at the time that the explicit sexuality of the lyrics had a metaphysical dimension as well — embodying a yearning that was physical and spiritual at the same time. In his liner notes, Gaye conveyed the message, "I hope the music that I present here makes you lucky."

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