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GRAMMY Rewind: 25th Annual GRAMMY Awards

Toto wins Album and Record Of The Year against these nominees

GRAMMYs/Dec 3, 2014 - 05:06 am

(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.

 

 

GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Linda Ronstadt's Sweet & Simple Acceptance Speech In 1977
(L-R) Linda Ronstadt and Peter Asher at the 1977 GRAMMYs.

Photo: Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

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GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Linda Ronstadt's Sweet & Simple Acceptance Speech In 1977

When Linda Ronstadt won a GRAMMY for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance — for her seventh album, 'Hasten Down the Wind' — she only had one special person in mind: her producer, Peter Asher.

GRAMMYs/Mar 22, 2024 - 04:32 pm

With Hasten Down the Wind, Linda Ronstadt became the first female artist with three million-selling albums in a row — and furthered her legacy as one of the pioneers of women in rock music.

The album also helped Ronstadt snag her second GRAMMY, as it won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1977. (The year prior, she took home Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her cover of Hank Williams' "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love With You).")

In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, relive the moment Linda Ronstadt won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Hasten Down the Wind in 1977.

Ronstadt kept her acceptance speech short and sweet: "I'd especially like to thank Peter Asher," the producer of the pop rock LP. "Thank you," she added with a smile.

To date, Ronstadt has won 11 GRAMMYs and received 27 nominations. In 2011 and 2016, respectively, she received a Latin GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award and a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award.

Press play on the video above to watch Linda Ronstadt take the stage to accept Best Pop Vocal Performance at the 19th Annual GRAMMY Awards and remember to keep checking back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

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GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Tina Turner Win Her First Solo GRAMMY In 1985 For "What's Love Got To Do With It?"
Tina Turner at the 1985 GRAMMYs.

Photo: CBS via Getty Images

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GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Tina Turner Win Her First Solo GRAMMY In 1985 For "What's Love Got To Do With It?"

Relive the moment Tina Turner won a golden gramophone for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female — an opportunity she had been waiting for "for such a long time."

GRAMMYs/Mar 15, 2024 - 05:04 pm

During her remarkable 83 years of life, the late Tina Turner received eight GRAMMY awards, a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award, and three introductions into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame.

In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, we travel to 1985, when Turner won a golden gramophone for one of her many iconic hits, "What's Love Got to Do with It?," in the Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, category.

"I've been waiting for this opportunity for such a long time," she said in her acceptance speech. "I have to thank many people. And all of you that I don't get to thank, you must know that it's in my mind."

Among those "many people," Turner praised Graham Lyle and Terry Britten, who wrote the track; John Carter, her A&R "who played a wonderful part" in relaunching her career with Capitol Records in the '80s; and Roger Davies, her manager, "a great man who has done a great job with her career."

Later that night, "What's Love Got To Do With It?" helped Turner win Record Of The Year; she also took home Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female, for "Better Be Good to Me." Though the 1985 ceremony marked Turner's first solo awards, she first won a GRAMMY in 1972 alongside her ex-husband, Ike Turner, for their recording of "Proud Mary."

Press play on the video above to watch Tina Turner's full acceptance speech for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, and remember to check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

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GRAMMY Rewind: Watch The Chicks Take 'Home' Best Country Album In 2003
The Chicks at the 2003 GRAMMYs.

Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

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GRAMMY Rewind: Watch The Chicks Take 'Home' Best Country Album In 2003

Revisit the Chicks' heartfelt acceptance speech after their sixth studio album, 'Home,' won Best Country Album at the 45th GRAMMY Awards — one of their three golden gramophones from the night.

GRAMMYs/Mar 8, 2024 - 06:00 pm

When the Chicks walked into the 45th Annual GRAMMY Awards, they already had four GRAMMYs to their name. But like Natalie Maines cheered at the start of their speech for Best Country Album, "No, this never gets old."

In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, relive the moment when the trio and Maines' father shared the stage to accept the golden gramophone for their sixth album, Home.

"We are so attached to this album and really proud of it," Maines shared. "It's our first co-producing effort, and we did it with my dad, Lloyd Maines. So, I want to check the record books and find out how many fathers and daughters have won GRAMMYs together."

"We want to say we are so glad we kissed and made up with Sony because they've done so many wonderful things with this record — a record that's acoustic and not very mainstream," Martie Maguire chimed. "Yet, it's winning GRAMMYs and topping the charts. We really credit the Columbia New York team."

Before closing out the speech, Emily Strayer and Maines praised the rest of their team in Nashville, and, of course, the fans: "We thought this would just be a project we gave away on the internet."

That same night, the Chicks — who at the time still went by the Dixie Chicks; they changed their name in 2020 — also won Best Country Instrumental Performance for "Lil' Jack Slade" and Best Duo/Group Country Vocal Performance for "Long Time Gone." As of press time, the Chicks have won 12 GRAMMYs, including four Best Country Album wins.

Press play on the video above to hear the Chicks' complete acceptance speech for Best Country Album at the 2003 GRAMMY Awards, and check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

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GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Doja Cat & SZA Tearfully Accept Their First GRAMMYs For "Kiss Me More"
(L-R) Doja Cat and SZA at the 2022 GRAMMYs.

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

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GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Doja Cat & SZA Tearfully Accept Their First GRAMMYs For "Kiss Me More"

Relive the moment the pair's hit "Kiss Me More" took home Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, which marked the first GRAMMY win of their careers.

GRAMMYs/Mar 1, 2024 - 06:11 pm

As Doja Cat put it herself, the 2022 GRAMMYs were a "big deal" for her and SZA.

Doja Cat walked in with eight nominations, while SZA entered the ceremony with five. Three of those respective nods were for their 2021 smash "Kiss Me More," which ultimately helped the superstars win their first GRAMMYs.

In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, revisit the night SZA and Doja Cat accepted the golden gramophone for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance — a milestone moment that Doja Cat almost missed.

"Listen. I have never taken such a fast piss in my whole life," Doja Cat quipped after beelining to the stage. "Thank you to everybody — my family, my team. I wouldn't be here without you, and I wouldn't be here without my fans."

Before passing the mic to SZA, Doja also gave a message of appreciation to the "Kill Bill" singer: "You are everything to me. You are incredible. You are the epitome of talent. You're a lyricist. You're everything."

SZA began listing her praises for her mother, God, her supporters, and, of course, Doja Cat. "I love you! Thank you, Doja. I'm glad you made it back in time!" she teased.

"I like to downplay a lot of s— but this is a big deal," Doja tearfully concluded. "Thank you, everybody."

Press play on the video above to hear Doja Cat and SZA's complete acceptance speech for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 2022 GRAMMY Awards, and check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

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