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GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Adele Win Best New Artist In 2009 While On Cloud Nine

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GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Adele Win Best New Artist In 2009 While On Cloud Nine

In the latest episode of GRAMMY Rewind, watch Kanye West and Estelle present an emotional Adele with the GRAMMY for Best New Artist at the 51st GRAMMY Awards in 2009

GRAMMYs/May 7, 2021 - 08:52 pm

Some in this life take public honors for granted, as if they're owed to them. Not Adele.

When the glitter-clad pair of Kanye West and Estelle announce her GRAMMY win for Best New Artist, Adele wells up with emotion—much like she does in her volcanic live performances. 

As Adele approaches the stage, her astonished facial expression practically screams, "Pinch me."

In the latest episode of GRAMMY Rewind, watch a captivating Adele take home the GRAMMY for Best New Artist at the 51st GRAMMY Awards in 2009 as she shouts out the friends, family and industry figures who helped her get there. (She also won the GRAMMY for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Chasing Pavements" that same year.)

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GRAMMY Rewind: The Chicks Give A Tear-Filled Speech For Their Industry-Altering Song Of The Year Win In 2007
The Chicks at the 2007 GRAMMYs.

Photo: Vince Bucci/Getty Images

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GRAMMY Rewind: The Chicks Give A Tear-Filled Speech For Their Industry-Altering Song Of The Year Win In 2007

The Chicks were full of emotions after winning a golden gramophone for "Not Ready to Make Nice," the song made in response to the criticism they faced in 2003.

GRAMMYs/Mar 17, 2023 - 05:00 pm

Flashback to 2003, the Chicks frontwoman Natalie Maines made her infamous statement advocating for peace against the invasion in Iraq. The seemingly unthreatening comment quickly led to nationwide backlash, including a boycott of the Chicks by country music's fans, radio stations and musicians.

But more importantly, Maines' progressive endorsement prompted a conversation surrounding America's conservative expectations for country artists. Maines' courage to speak out was an inspiration to the next generation of women in country, including Taylor Swift and Kacey Musgraves, who credit the Chicks for empowering them to publicly claim their liberal beliefs.

In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, we fast forward four years after the career-changing controversy to the 2007 GRAMMYs, when the trio won Song of the Year alongside folk singer/songwriter Dan Wilson for "Not Ready to Make Nice," the track made in response to the massive criticism they faced.

"This is overwhelming," said Emily Strayer, holding back tears. "Thank you, Dan, for writing with us … It was very important that you [understood] what we were trying to get across. Thank you for helping us to get all of this out and into a song."

Before heading off the stage, Maines took the time to express appreciation for her bandmates: "For the first time in my life, I'm speechless. Thank you, Martie and Emily, for sticking by me. I told you I'd take it to the GRAMMYs!" Maines joked. (The trio were the big winners that night, also taking home the GRAMMYs for Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Best Country Album.)

Press play on the video above to watch The Chicks' complete acceptance speech for Song of the Year at the 2007 GRAMMY Awards, and keep checking back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

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8 Artists Who Were Inspired By Their Teachers: Rihanna, Adele, Jay-Z & More
John Legend sings for students at Duke Ellington School of the Arts in 2012.

Photo: Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images

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8 Artists Who Were Inspired By Their Teachers: Rihanna, Adele, Jay-Z & More

In honor of Music In Our Schools Month this March, take a look at how teachers made a heartwarming impact on superstars like Katy Perry and John Legend.

GRAMMYs/Mar 16, 2023 - 03:55 pm

Before Rihanna, Billy Joel and Jay-Z became some of the biggest names in music, they were students just like the rest of us. Without some particularly special teachers, they might not be the superstars they are today, and they all remember who first encouraged them.

Within the past few years, Rihanna made a special trip to a cricket match in England to reunite with her old P.E. teacher from Barbados, who she calls her "MVP"; Joel traveled back to his New York hometown to honor the teacher who said he should be a professional musician; and Jay-Z told David Letterman that his sixth grade English teacher made him fall in love with words. 

In honor of Music In Our Schools Month — which raises awareness for supporting and cultivating worthwhile music programs in K-12 — GRAMMY.com highlights eight artists who have praised their teachers for making a lifelong impact.

Billy Joel

After watching Joel tackle Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23, his high school music appreciation teacher Chuck Arnold suggested that he consider music as a career.

"He said to me, you should be a professional musician," Joel recalled of his Hicksville High School mentor during a 1996 event at C.W. Post College. "Now, for a teacher to say that, it's like condemning someone to a life of poverty, drug taking, alcoholism and failure.

"A teacher is telling me this," he added seriously. "It had a huge influence on me."

In 2022, Joel was on hand to congratulate Arnold during the dedication of the Charles "Chuck" Arnold Theatre at the school. "This is for the coolest teacher there ever was," he praised.

Lizzo

In 2019, CBS Sunday arranged a surprise visit with the singer and Manny Gonzales, the former band director at her alma mater, Elsik High School in Houston. She told the network that Gonzales helped her get a scholarship to study classical flute at University of Houston.

"You told my ass!" Lizzo exclaimed as she squeezed him. "You were like, 'Get it together, girl, 'cause you are special. Apply yourself!' Those moments meant so much to me."

Lil Jon

The Atlanta DJ/producer and king of crunk has done more than take parties to the next level — he has invested in the educational future of children in Africa by building two schools in Ghana with the non-profit organization Pencils of Promise. He credits a mentor at Frederick Douglass High School in Atlanta for sparking his brain when he was a teenager.

"It was my music teacher [who inspired me to dream bigger]," he said in a 2019 interview with Yahoo! "I wanted to play drums, and if I didn't play drums, I wouldn't make music, and drums are the foundation for what I do."

Rihanna

Roddy Estwick was Rihanna's P.E. teacher in Barbados and is now the assistant coach of the West Indies cricket team. The two had an emotional reunion at the 2019 Cricket World Cup in England.

"He made a lasting impact on my life and he really offered great advice to me and many others when we were at school at Combermere," she told Barbados Today amid their reunion. "I just wanted to let everyone know what he meant to me in my development and what he did for us back at school in Barbados." Essence reported that Rihanna described him as, "My mentor, my champ, my MVP" on her Instagram stories.

John Legend

The Ohio native credits his English teacher Mrs. Bodey at North High School in Springfield for setting him on the path that culminated in his music career.

"Until her class, I hadn't believed in my ability as a writer," Legend shared in a 2017 op-ed for Huffington Post. "She recognized my potential and showed me that I could write with creativity, with clarity, with passion."

He continued, "Mrs. Bodey, along with a few other teachers, helped me gain confidence in my skills and pushed me to challenge myself. They pushed me to graduate second in my class. They pushed me to deliver the speech at our graduation. They pushed me to earn a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania, to hone my writing as an English Major and, ultimately, toward a successful career as a songwriter."

Adele

The singer was reunited with the most pivotal teacher in her life during her "An Audience with Adele" concert special in 2021. While the singer took questions from the crowd, actress Emma Thompson asked Adele if she had a supporter or protector in the past.

"I had a teacher at [south London high school] Chestnut Grove, who taught me English. That was Miss McDonald," Adele said. "She got me really into English literature. Like, I've always been obsessed with English and obviously now I write lyrics… She really made us care, and we knew that she cared about us."

Miss McDonald then surprised Adele on stage, and the singer was brought to tears — a touching highlight of the special. She even told her former teacher that she still has the books from her class!

Katy Perry

While Perry has admitted that she wishes she had a better overall education, her former music school teacher gave her confidence to pursue singing seriously.

"I'm kind of bummed at this stage that I didn't have a great education because I could really use that these days," she said in a 2014 interview with Yahoo! "There was a teacher named Agatha Danoff who was my vocal teacher and music teacher at the Music Academy of the West. It was very fancy and I didn't come from any money… and she always used to give me a break on my lessons. I owe her a lot of credit and I appreciate that she looked out for me when I didn't have enough money to pay."

Jay-Z

Picture a young Shawn Carter — now better known as Jay-Z —  with his head stuck in a dictionary.

"I had a sixth grade teacher, her name was Ms. Lowden and I just loved the class so much," Jay-Z said during his appearance on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman in 2018. 

He later realized how much Renee Rosenblum-Lowden, who taught him at Intermediate School 318 in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, had an influence on his passion for language. "Like, reading the dictionary and just my love of words," he explained. "I just connected with her."

"I knew he was extremely bright, but he was quiet," Rosenblum-Lowden told Brut in 2019, sharing that he scored at the 12th-grade level on a sixth-grade reading test.

"He's been very kind," she added. "Every famous person has a teacher who probably influenced them, and I wish they would all shout out the way Jay-Z did."

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GRAMMY Rewind: Whoopi Goldberg Delivers A Fittingly Joke-Filled Speech At The 1986 GRAMMYs
Whoopi Goldberg at the 1986 GRAMMYs.

Photo: CBS via Getty Images

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GRAMMY Rewind: Whoopi Goldberg Delivers A Fittingly Joke-Filled Speech At The 1986 GRAMMYs

Whoopi Goldberg brought her comedy skills to the GRAMMY stage when she won Best Comedy Recording, which marked a historic GRAMMY moment.

GRAMMYs/Mar 10, 2023 - 06:00 pm

Almost 40 years ago, Whoopi Goldberg made history as the first Black woman to win Best Comedy Recording at the 1986 GRAMMYs — and marked her first step into achieving EGOT status, which she later accomplished in 2002.

In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, we travel back to the night Goldberg received this trailblazing award for her one-woman Broadway show. The stand-up comedian fittingly warmed up her acceptance speech with a few jokes: "I'm going to have to get a job after this," she laughed before taking a quick-witted stab at the orchestra's untimely playing. "Make me move!"

She went on to thank Geffen Records, her colleagues, her longtime supporter Mike Nichols, and her family for inspiring and assisting her throughout the production of the record. Goldberg also took a moment to acknowledge her "date," 12-time GRAMMY Award winner Paul Simon, who wasn't able to escort her to the ceremony after falling ill.

"I want to say it's a very nice, wonderful honor to get something as nice as this," Goldberg concluded. "Thank you all, and good night!"

Press play on the video above to watch Whoopi Goldberg's full acceptance speech for Best Comedy Recording at the 28th GRAMMY Awards, and keep checking back to GRAMMY.com for more episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

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GRAMMY Rewind: Irene Cara Thanks Her Family And Friends For 'Flashdance' Win At The 1984 GRAMMYs
Irene Cara at the 1984 GRAMMYs.

Photo: Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images

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GRAMMY Rewind: Irene Cara Thanks Her Family And Friends For 'Flashdance' Win At The 1984 GRAMMYs

Irene Cara was speechless as she made her way to the stage to accept her award for "Flashdance … What a Feeling" at the 26th GRAMMY Awards.

GRAMMYs/Mar 3, 2023 - 06:00 pm

From its star-studded cast to its timeless music, there's no questioning that Flashdance is one of the most iconic and influential films to emerge from the early '80s. Musical dramas decorated the year following its release, including Footloose and Prince's Purple Rain, which credited Flashdance as its inspiration. So, it was no surprise when the film's soundtrack made a sweep at the 1984 GRAMMY Awards ceremony.

In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, we flashback to the night Irene Cara won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Flashdance's titular song. The triple-threat singer, actress and dancer was stunned as she made her way to the stage to accept the award: "Are you sure? I can't believe this," she squealed to the presenters.

After acknowledging the film's producers, actors and musicians, she thanked her parents, who encouraged her to begin performing. "My mother and father, who started it all for me many years ago — you know I can't visit them if I don't say that," Cara joked. "I love you all, thank you!"

Press play on the video above to watch Irene Cara's full acceptance speech for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 26th GRAMMY Awards, and keep checking back to GRAMMY.com for more episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

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